Tag: fair taxation

Tax Justice Scotland: A fair wealth tax could raise almost half a billion pounds a year from Scotland’s 10 richest families alone

New report reinforces case for stronger wealth taxes as a key building block of wider package of UK and Scottish fair tax reforms

A new report for Tax Justice Scotland has exposed Scotland’s staggering wealth gap with just five families holding more wealth (£19.3bn) than a quarter of Scotland’s population with the least wealth combined (£18.9bn).

The news comes as campaigners, frontline delivery organisations, academics, trade unions and others gather in Edinburgh for a major tax justice conference to explore the urgent need for a package of fair improvements to the tax systems at Scotland, UK and global levels.

The report, Taxing Wealth for a Fairer and Greener Scotland, produced by the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) on behalf of the campaign, makes clear that fairer taxes on wealth at UK and Scotland levels must be at the heart of this package of reforms to invest in and drive progress towards a fairer, greener and more prosperous future.

Tax Justice Scotland says improved wealth taxation is only one part of a fairer tax system and is today also challenging all political parties in Scotland to outline detailed proposals for using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to improve devolved and local tax systems. 

The STUC analysis highlights the extreme end of wealth inequality after official data showed the wealthiest 2% of Scottish households have more wealth than the poorest 50% combined.

The report shows that the fortunes of Scotland’s very wealthiest people are surging far faster than people’s pay packets. Between 2024 and 2025, the combined wealth of Scotland’s ten richest families shot up by almost 8%, outstripping average earnings growth (5.9%).

Incredibly, the five richest families in Scotland are estimated to have more wealth (£19.3bn) than the Scottish Government collected in Income Tax (£19bn) last year. 

For illustrative purposes, the STUC analysis shows that a modest annual wealth tax of just 2% on all those with assets of more than £10 million could raise nearly half a billion pounds (£492 million) from Scotland’s 10 richest families alone, enough to pay for 12,000 new nurses, or 11,000 new teachers, or to double the Scottish Child Payment and lift more than 30,000 children out of poverty.

Given such a wealth tax would apply to all those with assets of more than £10 million in Scotland, it would raise even more.

Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC, said on behalf of Tax Justice Scotland: “This research lays bare the shocking concentration of wealth in Scotland. While families across the country are struggling to pay their bills, a handful of the super-rich are lining their pockets with more and more money.

“It doesn’t have to be this way: fairly taxing this eye-watering wealth could, according to STUC research, mean more 12,000 new nurses in hospitals, 11,000 more teachers in classrooms or to double the Scottish Child Payment and lift more than 30,000 children out of poverty

“Politicians across the UK should be in no doubt that it’s their dithering and delay that is deepening the crisis within our communities and public services. The powers to make a radical change to our tax system are at their disposal. The excuses must end. Scotland can work for everyone, not just the richest few. It’s time that work was started without equivocation.”

Tax Justice Scotland believes a series of tax reforms are needed to deliver the investment Scotland needs, while incentivising positive behaviours, to tackle poverty, strengthen public services, cut emissions and support fair work, while reducing the many forms of inequality that persist, including gender and economic inequality.

The campaign says this package of reform is essential to building a fairer, greener and more prosperous future for everyone in Scotland. While, over time, raising enough revenue is likely to require broad-based tax increases – fairer wealth taxation is vital.

As the Chancellor prepares her autumn Budget, campaigners point to growing momentum behind fairer taxes, with 68% of people in Scotland thinking the very richest should pay more. Over three-quarters (79%) of people in Scotland back a UK-wide wealth tax on the very richest people. 

Previous analysis has shown that the measure, alongside a series of other reforms to improve existing UK-level taxes on wealth, like increasing Capital Gains Tax and applying National Insurance to investment income, could raise up to £60 billion a year across the UK. 

A UK-wide wealth tax, if introduced, could help boost the Scottish Budget. But the STUC’s analysis shows that if the UK Government fails to act, the Scottish Parliament could use its own tax powers, with HMRC support, to introduce a locally-administered wealth tax.

The findings come against a backdrop of growing fiscal pressure: the Scottish Fiscal Commission has warned of a £4.7 billion shortfall in the Scottish Budget by the end of the decade, alongside mounting longer-term challenges. The Commission is urging all parties to work together before and after the Scottish election to address these challenges.

While making the case for improved taxation on all forms of wealth, Tax Justice Scotland says improving tax on property wealth in Scotland is particularly essential. Campaigners say the outdated and unfair Council Tax, still based on property values from 1991, must finally be replaced with a reformed property tax that reflects today’s housing wealth. 

Property wealth has surged by almost £100 billion in just ten years, yet the Council Tax system remains frozen in time, letting those in the most expensive homes pay far less than they should, while many others are left paying over the odds.

Tax Justice Scotland say replacing Council Tax, alongside wider reforms to better tax the wealthiest and to build upon modest but progressive changes to Income Tax in Scotland, would collectively make sure those with the broadest shoulders contribute a fairer share. 

Campaigners emphasise that while tax isn’t a silver bullet, it can play a much bigger role in building the Scotland we want to see.

Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, a member of Tax Justice Scotland, said: “Our tax system can do so much more to help build the country the people of Scotland want, but, right now, it’s stacked in favour of the wealthy.

“It’s time to fix the system; and that must include better taxing wealth right across the UK and, in Scotland, finally replacing the outdated Council Tax.

“With the Scottish election fast approaching, all political parties have a clear choice: defend a broken system that protects the richest while short-changing critical priorities or back a fairer one that delivers a fairer, greener and more prosperous country for all of us.”

STUC-Taxing-Wealth-for-a-Fairer-and-Greener-ScotlandDownload

Read the report Taxing Wealth for a Fairer and Greener Scotland here: 

https://bit.ly/TaxingWealth 

SCOTLAND DEMANDS BETTER on TAX:

Scotland-Demands-Better-on-TaxDownload

TUC: ‘We must end the grotesque inequality of the Tory era’

“It’s only right that the wealthiest pay their fair share”

  • Wealthiest “feathering their nests” while working people suffer the worst pay crisis for two centuries
  • NEW POLLING reveals significant cross-voter support for increasing taxes on wealth and excess profits, as the TUC general secretary renews call for a national conversation on tax
  • 3 in 4 think capital gains should be taxed at the same or higher than income tax – including 73% of Conservative 2019 voters
  • TUC calls for a new deal for workers to help tackle the boom in insecure work, stagnant wages and attacks on workers’ rights.

The TUC has declared that “we must put an end to the grotesque inequality of the Tory era”. Ahead of its annual Congress in Liverpool this weekend, the TUC says the Conservatives have allowed Britain’s wealthiest to “feather their nests” while working people have suffered the worst pay crisis for two centuries.

The union body adds that the Conservatives have delivered a “broken economic model which rewards wealth, not work”.

With “living standards plummeting, public services on their knees, and rampant wealth inequality blighting every corner of the country”, the union body says fair taxation must be a key part of a wider set of policies to help “reset the economy to work for working people”.

The TUC is renewing its call for a “national conversation on taxing wealth and windfalls” to help build a fairer society and “fix broken Britain”.

Significant support for fairer tax

The call comes as the union body publishes new polling, conducted by Opinium, which shows significant cross-party support for increasing taxes on wealth and excess profits.

A clear majority (61%) of the public think wealthy people should pay more tax than they are now – including over half (53%) of Conservative voters in the 2019 general election.

Only 4% of the public think wealthy people should pay less tax.

There is significant backing for increasing capital gains tax too.

Around 3 in 4 (72%) think capital gains should be taxed at the same or higher than income tax – including 73% of Conservative 2019 voters.

There was also huge support across the board for windfall taxes on excess profits:

  • Three quarters (75%) of the public support a windfall tax on banks’ excess profits – including 76% of Conservative 2019 voters
  • 4 in 5 (80%) support a windfall tax on energy companies’ profits – including 81% of Conservative 2019 voters
  • 7 in 10 (69%) support a windfall tax on large online retailers’ excess profits (like Amazon)

The TUC has already called on the government to equalise capital gains tax with income tax which could raise over £10 billion – and it has supported a bigger windfall tax on energy companies.

Recent TUC analysis set out options for taxing the wealthiest 0.3% with wealth over £3 million, £5 million and £10 million, excluding pensions.

It found a modest wealth tax on the richest 140,000 individuals – which is around 0.3% of the UK population – could deliver a £10.4 bn boost for the public purse.

Rampant inequalities

The TUC warns that huge inequality has “become the norm” in Tory Britain.

The ONS’ analysis of its Wealth and Assets Survey shows that the richest 1% of households had wealth of more than £3.6 million, and the least wealthy ten per cent had £15,400 or less. 

Of financial wealth, the ONS say the wealth held by the richest 1% of households was greater than for the entire bottom 80 per cent of the population.

At the same time, CEO pay is booming, with the bosses of the UK’s 100 biggest listed companies collecting an average £500,000 pay rise last year.

City bonuses have been at a record level for the past two years.  And banks and energy giants have been registering record profits too.

Worst pay crisis for two centuries

The TUC says working people are suffering the worst pay crisis in 200 years, which is contributing to the rampant wealth and income inequalities blighting every corner of the country.

Fifteen years on since the financial crisis, real pay is still down £360 this year compared to 2008. The average worker has lost out on a total of £21,600 since 2008, compared with wages just keeping pace with inflation.

And pay is not expected to return to 2008 level for at least another two years.

If real wages had continued to grow at the average pre-2008 rate of 2.3 per cent each year, the average worker would now be £280 per week, or £14,600 per year, better off.

Time for an economic reset

The TUC is calling for an economic reset after years of Tory failure.

As well as growing inequality, declining living standards, and public services which have been cut to the bone, the union body says the Conservatives have presided over a boom in insecure work and an attack on workers’ rights.

In addition to fairer taxation, the union body is repeating its demands for stronger protections for workers, and calling for improvements including:

  • Fair pay agreements to get pay rising in low-paid industries
  • A ban on the abusive use of zero hours contracts and a ban on fire and rehire
  • Day one employment rights, like protection against unfair dismissal.

The TUC says these policies are hugely popular across the political spectrum – as various recent polls have shown.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “It’s time to end the grotesque inequality of the Tory era.

“As households across the country have struggled to put food on the table, energy companies and banks have registered eyewatering profits, and CEO pay has skyrocketed.

“The wealthiest have feathered their nests while working people have suffered the worst pay crisis in two centuries.

“Rampant inequalities are the direct result of a broken Tory economic model that rewards wealth, not work.

“We need a reset – and an economy that delivers better living standards for all – not just those at the top.”

On the need to kickstart a national conversation about taxing wealth, Paul added: “Now is the time for a national conversation on taxing wealth and windfalls.

“With living standards plummeting, public services on their knees, and huge wealth inequalities blighting every corner of the country, fairer taxes can help to fix broken Britain.

“But our current tax system isn’t fit for purpose. A nurse will pay a bigger share of their income in tax than a city trader does on profits from their investment portfolio. 

“That’s not only absurd and unfair – it’s bad for our economy and our public services too.

“The public overwhelmingly back increased taxes on the wealthiest and companies that have made massive profits.

“It’s only right that the wealthiest pay their fair share.”