'We want a society that works for everyone': These millionaires want Rachel Reeves to tax them more

A group of millionaires has called on the government to implement a wealth tax in the autumn budget to combat the inequality they describe as “corrosive to British society”. 

Phil White, a founding member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, told the Big Issue that the group hopes the government will implement a wealth tax at the autumn budget on Wednesday (30 October), which he explained would help the whole of the UK to “thrive”.

Inspired by an existing group in the US, which was founded in 2010, Patriotic Millionaires UK has been gathering momentum since 2021, with approximately 80 members across the country.

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“It’s about rebalancing, people with the broadest shoulders contributing more to the economy and the growth of the country,” White explained, telling the Big Issue that Patriotic Millionaires UK is pushing for a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m. The group claims this will raise up to £24bn per year. 

The proposed wealth tax “really wouldn’t affect the vast majority of people”, White explained, adding that if a person had up to “£9.9m” they wouldn’t pay anything. 

“Hopefully this would go some way to stopping this increase in wealth inequality that we’ve seen, that we think is so corrosive to British society,” he added. 

Labour shouldn’t be ‘penalising working people’ in budget, say Patriotic Millionaires

Commenting on the autumn budget, with chancellor Rachel Reeves already urged to implement a wealth tax by campaigners and charities, White said he and Patriotic Millionaires UK hoped to see “more emphasis on taxes on wealth”.

“We’re looking at… making sure that the taxes on income from wealth are the same as the taxes on income from work,” he explained. “At the moment, they’re lower. And that to us, frankly, doesn’t seem fair – that people who work for a living should pay more tax than those who are getting their income from wealth that’s been accumulated over years.”

He added that the group, which is apolitical, wanted the government’s budget to ensure “we’re not penalising working people who are struggling with heating and eating“.

“We should make life easier for those folk, not make life more difficult,” he said.

Looking at the upcoming autumn budget, White told the Big Issue that in order to tackle rising rates of poverty, the government should be investing in “better public services”. 

“Better public services can get to the root of a lot of things… addressing poverty, and certainly the sorts of things that Labour did before in terms of addressing child poverty in particular,” he said, referencing the fall in child poverty under Labour in 2010.

“We believe that for the UK to thrive, we need an economy that’s working and a society that’s working, and the role of the state is to enable that process,” he added. “That’s through public services, through the NHS in particular, and social care, those sorts of things which really have been struggling in recent years.”

A poll the group undertook on millionaires in the UK found that 65% of UK millionaires want higher taxes on wealth to help fund public services, with White explaining that the “window” is moving on the idea of a wealth tax.

“What we’re seeing now is really quite a strong consensus among most charitable or social organisations… that we need to do more about wealth tax,” he explained. “I’d hope to see action this year, and maybe more action at the next budget.”

“I am optimistic that we’re going to see those changes… we need an injection of money in public services, and there’s nowhere else for it to come from at the end of the day,” he explained.

White added that while there has been some speculation over wealthy people leaving the UK if Labour implements a tax crackdown on non-doms, the group is “not convinced” by the argument, believing a wealth tax is not a “demotivator” when it comes to starting a business.

“Anybody who’s got £10m or more, they’re not going to spend it in their lifetime, so they can afford it,” he explained. “We all depend on society. Nobody grows a business in isolation without education, roads, customers, all those good things, and that comes about through having a society that public services stand at the back of.

“We are really looking for a society that works for everybody, that we can all enjoy being part of.”

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