Slapping Britain’s richest 350 people with a 2% wealth tax could pump nearly £16billion a year into public coffers, research reveals tonight.
Campaigners said hitting those on The Sunday Times Rich List with an extra duty would raise vital funds for the Treasury - potentially hiking numbers of nurses, police and teachers.
Analysts said that widening the wealth tax to anyone with assets of more than £10million would generate up to £22bn annually, according to the study by Tax Justice UK, the Economic Change Unit and the New Economics Foundation.
Tax Justice’s executive director Robert Palmer said: “The growing wealth of those on the Rich List highlights the inequality in our tax system, where those who are already wealthy from investments, rent and inheritances are taxed relatively lightly compared to those who get their income from work.
“It can’t be right that many working people are paying a higher effective tax rate than some of the very wealthiest in our society, especially when we are seeing falling living standards and increasing bills for the majority.”
Researchers said an assets tax of just 1% applied to those on the Rich List would raise up to £8bn annually.
Applied to everyone in the UK with assets in excess of £10million, the tax could raise as much as £11bn a year.
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Analysts said the total wealth of the richest 250 people in the UK rocketed by more than £44bn from £704bn to £748bn in the last year.
The average UK billionaire’s wealth has risen from £3.7bn to £4bn in the last year.
But less than a quarter of the 100 wealthiest people in the UK also feature on the The Sunday Times Tax List of the top 100 UK taxpayers.
On average, the total wealth of the richest 250 climbed by £176.7m over the last year.
UK billionaires had an even better year, with the average wealth of UK billionaires increasing by £300m from £3.7bn to £4bn.
But less than a quarter of the 100 wealthiest people also feature on the Sunday Times Tax List of the top 100 taxpayers.
Mr Palmer added: “The Government must urgently bring forward reforms to fix our broken tax system, bringing in higher taxes on wealth, so that those who earn the most, and own the most, pay their proper share.”
New Economics Foundation economist Lukasz Krebel said: “This year’s Rich List shows that at a time when so many of us are struggling with the cost of living, the very wealthiest in society continue to thrive.
“Yet this elite group aren’t taxed as much as those of us who earn our living, leaving us with less money to invest in hospitals, schools and parks.
“We can share the wealth that we all create by increasing taxes on the very rich.
“By doing this, we can repair our public services, power our future with locally-made energy from the wind and sun, and create jobs and thriving neighbourhoods for all of our families.”
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