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More than 50 MPs back call for Budget wealth tax
Richard Burgon at the SEC centre, Glasgow, February 15, 2020

PRESSURE is growing on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to introduce a wealth tax in her Budget next week.

More than 50 MPs have signalled support for the move by backing a Commons motion tabled by Leeds East Labour MP Richard Burgon.

Thirty of them are Labour MPs, indicating strong backbench support for the move.

The motion calls for a 2 per cent annual tax on assets over £10 million to be introduced at the Budget, which has already seen Ms Reeves float and then discard the idea of an election promise-busting rise in income tax rates.

It is estimated that the wealth tax proposed could raise £24 billion in revenue every year.

Mr Burgon, secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, said: “The Budget must be the moment when the Chancellor finally grasps the nettle and introduces a tax on the very wealthiest in our society.

“A wealth tax would be a fairer and more popular alternative to any stealth taxes on ordinary people already being pushed to the brink by the cost-of-living crisis.

“A modest 2 per cent tax on those with assets over £10m could raise tens of billions and help deliver the change people expected from a Labour government.”

Polls show that the public, including Reform-inclined voters, overwhelmingly backs such a wealth tax.

It also supports other measures being pushed by the left, including a windfall tax on bank profits and equalising the rate of capital gains tax with income tax.

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