A former Labour minister has said she wants Rachel Reeves to consider the “evidence” behind introducing a wealth tax in the UK.
Anneliese Dodds, who quit as international development minister in February over Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to slash the overseas aid budget, said she believed it was “important” that the government considers “who has the broadest shoulders”.
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Speaking to Beth Rigby on the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Dodds, the MP for Oxford East, said there had been a “lot of discussion” about a wealth tax – a direct levy on all, or most of, an individual’s, household’s or business’s total net wealth, rather than their income.
Ms Dodds, who also served as shadow chancellor when Labour was in opposition, said she had been “a bit sceptical about some of those claims for a long time because, of course, wealth is taxed in the UK”.
However, she said work carried out by the Wealth Tax Commission in 2020 had looked at various types of international wealth taxes and how it would be possible to deliver one in a UK context.
She added: “I would hope the Treasury is considering that kind of evidence, as well as other changes that have been put forward.”
The former cabinet minister also said that tax proposals outlined by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to Rachel Reeves should be “considered”.
In a memo that was leaked to the Daily Telegraph in May, Ms Rayner suggested to the chancellor that she increase taxes, including reinstating the pensions lifetime allowance and a higher corporation tax level for banks.
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