Tax Rises Expected in Budget. But will they be fair?

Reeves' pre-Budget speech fails to rule out tax rises - BBC News

Rachel Reeves refuses to rule out tax rises as autumn budget looms | Economic policy | The Guardian

by Tom Burgess, CEO, Taxpayers Against Poverty 6 November 2025

The Chancellor’s televised speech at Downing Street this week, in which she refused to rule out tax rises, shows the government is desperate to frame the news agenda and prepare voters and the markets for what’s coming in the budget later this month. Rachel Reeve’s said in early morning press conference on Tuesday, that “each of us must do our bit” for the country’s future.

The UK economy is stagnating. So, to fill a £30bn gap, Rachel Reeves now seems set to break key Labour manifesto pledges, not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT.

But there is another option, one that would be much fairer, and is popular with the UK public: a wealth tax.

Introducing a 2% tax on assets above £10m would raise up to £25bn annually to invest in health, housing, education and infrastructure. Polling shows the idea is consistently popular with the public. And the people most likely to pay the tax, millionaires, also support the idea.

Here at Taxpayers Against Poverty, we want to reduce poverty and inequality, through practical and fair economic policies. We believe that one of the clearest ways to do this is by modernising the tax system so that wealth is taxed more, and income is taxed less.

Nearly 50 MPs have now signed Early Day Motion 1725, which calls for the government to consider proposals for a fair wealth tax, ahead of the budget.

Privately many more Labour MPs have been telling us they support the principle of a wealth tax, but are prevented from publicly adding their name, due to a party diktat on signing EDMs or pledges.

The government seems intent on preventing open discussion of the merits of a fair wealth tax, despite its popularity amongst the public and its own MPs.

And by doing so, it is missing a golden opportunity to genuinely reform the UK’s outdated tax system: reform that would see excessive wealth accumulated by the few, but created by us all, is reinvested in our country to reduce poverty and inequality and boost economic growth.