Tax millionaires to solve care and unemployment crisis

Social enterprise United for All Ages calls for Britain’s wealth and resources to be shared collectively and fairly to transform work and welfare.

It argues that although Britain is not a poor country, ‘wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few, as inequality grows within and between generations.’

According to the paper, 90 per cent of the country’s wealth is owned by people over 45.

There are 619,000 millionaires, with this number due to grow by a third by 2020.

While a third of Britain’s children live in poverty, the combined wealth of the country’s 1,000 richest people is £400 billion.

Investing in the future – wealth, work and welfare in a multi-generational society, sets out how welfare and work could be reformed, using tax funding raised from Britain’s wealthiest people and companies. The paper proposes six ways to tax wealth to give all children a good start in life, reduce youth unemployment, support families with childcare and eldercare, and enable older people to play a full part in society.

The paper puts forward a number of proposals including a ‘next generation’ fund to help young people into work, paid for by National Insurance contributions, from older people working longer, with a focus on employment in care, health, education, transport and housing.

It also says that there should be a lifelong care policy which supports families from childcare to eldercare, reducing the cost of care and helping families to balance work and care.

An ‘ActionAge’ programme should be set up, maximising older people’s contributions through work, volunteering, care and mentoring.

To raise the money needed to pay for these plans, the paper recommends taxing wealth by:

• raising the threshold at which income tax starts to at least 10,000 with immediate effect;
• keeping the 50p tax rate and introducing a higher tax rate for those earning more than £1m a year;
• increasing stamp duty on homes over £500,000 and ensuring capital gains are properly taxed on all property sales;
• a care duty on all estates above £25,000 to help pay for Britain’s ageing population;
• a one-off corporate tax to boost economic regeneration and reduce unemployment;
• HMRC should implement a rigorous campaign against tax avoidance;
• a one-off austerity tax on individuals and trusts worth more than £10m to reduce the national debt and give early support to families.

Stephen Burke, director of United for All Ages, said, ‘Using wealth is the key to unlocking our country’s potential and ensuring that all generations can contribute to and benefit from future success. Older people have much more they could contribute if they were encouraged; young people could do much more if they were given the chance; multi-generational families would do much more if they had the time, support and resources. 

‘As many people feel the pinch in Britain, it is only right that our wealth and resources are shared collectively and fairly for all ages. The economic returns of intervening early will be long-term but we cannot afford not to take action now. We are all interdependent and mutually responsible. Intergenerational fairness should underpin smarter taxes and smarter spending. We must be ambitious and invest in the future: through prevention and early intervention, supporting the next generation, and ensuring our legacy for a Britain for all ages.’