And this involves taxing the wealthiest more
You need look no further than the past week’s news for evidence of the shameful levels of inequality in Britain today.
In the same week that the Trussell Trust, Britain’s largest food bank organisation, announced that the number of food bank users has increased by 19 per cent since last year – bringing the number forced to turn to emergency food-aid in 2014-15 to almost 1.1million – the Sunday Times Rich List revealed that the collective wealth of Britain’s wealthiest has more than doubled in the last ten years. The most well-off 1,000 individuals and families now have a combined fortune of just over £547bn, more than the poorest 40 per cent of households combined.
Not only does the media fetishise and idealise the wealth of these billionaires, but it also demonises and vilifies those who are struggling. A report last week investigating changing attitudes to poverty illustrated how increasingly these viewpoints are becoming endemic within our society – encouraging people to vilify those most in need.
The media and politicians are cultivating cruel attitudes – condemning the poor as lazy and incompetent and heralding extreme wealth as an emblem of success. They forget that people who are in poverty or struggling on low incomes are there because our economy is rigged against those with the least. Social mobility in the UK is falling. Those born wealthy are likely to remain so, while those born into poverty are finding it harder and harder to make their way.
It does not have to be this way.
We don’t have to live in a society which allows the poorest to bear the brunt of a financial crisis they played no part in creating, or which we tax the bedrooms of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. It is time to take a stand and create the kind of society – the kind of Britain – that we want. A society and an economy that works for the benefit of all.
We are not afraid to say this involves taxing the wealthiest more. We will increase taxation on the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations, taking the most from those more able to pay to fund the services from which we all benefit. We pledge to introduce a wealth tax of 2 per year on the top 1 per cent. We will invest in HMRC to ensure it has the resources required to collect the tax that is owed. We will increase corporation tax from 20 per cent to 30 per cent (small businesses would remain on 20 per cent). We will raise the top rate of income tax to 60 per cent.
With this money we will invest in social security and public services to create a society that supports the needs and aspirations of us all. We will immediately end health service austerity, and increase the NHS budget by £12bn a year. We will provide free social care for the elderly, to ensure everyone has access to the care they need. We will abolish tuition fees for higher education and introduce free universal childcare.
We want to create a Britain that cares. We can rebuild our economy to ensure that nobody’s future is defined by their postcode, or the profession of their parents. But to do this we need to be brave, and we need to be bold. That’s why I’m proud to be leading the Green Party into this election – with a promise to the British people that Greens will always fight for an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party. Follow her on Twitter
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25 Responses to “It’s time to take a stand against Britain’s shameful inequality”
Gerschwin
What is inequality? Nobody knows.
What does it look like? Nobody knows.
How do you measure it? Nobody knows.
What does equality look it? Nobody knows.
How do you know when you’ve fixed it? Nobody knows.
But in the meantime it’s the perfect excuse for the purveyors of hate and division, resentment and apathy, greed and sloth to steal from the rest of us.
Flights to Australia start at around £400 one way, that’s in low season – get out of my country and go back to yours (I’ll even chip in if you like).
steroflex
Completely agree. Take the money off the rich and give it to the poor. So let us look at the poor. In Sierra Leone, Somalia, Ethiopia and now Nepal, there are people without houses, without food, without medical supplies and without even water.
We ought to bring these people up to equality by taxing ourselves across the board at 75% of income and possessions. We ought then to send it to these poor people and bring them up to our own very rich standard of living. Bedroom Tax? Mansion Tax? Of course. And toilet tax? Bathroom tax, kitchen stove tax? Garage tax? Naturally we want to help the poor with sanitary provision and culinary protection.
That is why I am voting Green – with a promise to the British people that Greens will always fight for an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
Faerieson
Is this an attempt at a poem?
There are lots of things we don’t know but thank the heavens that we never stopped searching. “What does starting a fire look like? Nobody knows.” And, we do sort of have a taste of what inequality is like. Perhaps you should broaden your reading a touch, or watch one of the many news channels on offer, or talk to new people…
As for ‘greed and division,’ suddenly you’ve remembered exactly what it’s like. Well done, you! But, your’s is a very skewed image. So, I’m guessing that you’re not really that interested in broadening your understanding.
And, I think I might just have picked up on a touch of ‘hate’ here, as well. You either want it, or you don’t! Decide!
Gerschwin
Think you’ll find if you buy some matches and paper you can get a pretty good idea what starting a fire looks like. Give it a whirl.
Leon Wolfeson
You don’t know, because you refuse to see anything surrounding it. And yes, thief, you do as you admit, clearly, purvey “hate and division, resentment and apathy, greed and sloth”. Banker.
And that’s nice, thanks for asking people to leave Monaco.