A campaigning “patriotic millionaire” has urged the Liberal Democrats to get behind a new wealth tax, as the party debates how to position itself on the economy.
Mark Robinson, who joked to activists he was the “most left-wing man in commercial real estate”, welcomed the party’s call this week for a windfall tax on big banks.
But he argued the projected £7bn a year raised under the policy was a “drop in the ocean” compared to “properly” implemented taxes on wealth.
His group, Patriotic Millionaires UK, is touring this autumn’s political conferences to drum up support for higher taxes on the wealthy.
It is a message the group hopes to get across ahead of the Budget in November, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widely expected to raise taxes again to keep the public finances within her fiscal rules.
She is facing pressure on the issue from the left of the Labour Party, as well as unions, to consider hiking taxes on the very rich.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Lib Dems’ autumn get-together in Bournemouth, Mr Robinson, who has previously sold two real estate companies, likened his campaign group to “turkeys that will vote for Christmas”.
The Patriotic Millionaires, the British offshoot of a US organisation, is trying to get UK politicians to back a 2% tax on assets over £10m.
They also want to see capital gains tax, levied when assets are sold, increased to bring it into line with rates of income tax.
The Lib Dems fought the last election on a manifesto pledge to raise capital gains tax and reverse Tory cuts to the levy on banks.
The party has since expressed an interest in getting the very wealthy to pay more in inheritance tax, whilst attempting to lessen the impact of the levy on those inheriting modest amounts via family homes.
The precise stance it takes on taxation ahead of the next general election, however, is not yet clear.
The party recently set up a working group to take evidence from experts on what its broad economic position should be.
Speaking at the fringe event, Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean cautioned that major tax announcements would normally be expected in the run-up to the next general election, so it “makes more sense as a package” to voters.
But he added that the party was already starting to think about how it could build on the policies it adopted at the last election.
Key to building support for additional wealth taxation, he argued, would be to link it more strongly to overall economic performance, describing the current tax system as “messy”, with incentives “all over the place”.
Also speaking at the event, Andrew George, another Lib Dem MP, said the issue would present a particular issue for his party, whose core vote had “certainly moved up the class ranking” in recent years.
He added that the issue of a wealth tax had almost become “taboo” – and the party should think about eschewing the term “wealth tax”.
“Maybe we need to use a different term, but the fact is this nut does need to be cracked, because we cannot allow inequality to continue widening,” he added.
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