Wealth Tax | Sheffield Green Party

Southey has a choice on 27th August – let’s choose a good local representative who will stand up for our ward.

The Reform councillor in Stocksbridge has voted against a Tram line extension to his own ward – despite pledging support.
Meanwhile, parts of Sheffield that elect Green councillors once keep voting Green again and again because of proven hard work.

Southey has a choice on 27th August – let’s pick smart spending rather than Reform’s wasting of council tax.
Reform has made false claims about savings in councils across the country and wasted thousands on “political assistants” in Kent.
Meanwhile, the Greens are campaigning for a reversal of cuts to youth services to give young people positive spaces and bring down antisocial behaviour.

Southey has a choice on Thursday, 27th August – let’s pick the party on the side of the working class.

The Greens are standing up for a wealth tax on the mega-rich to help left-behind communities.
Meanwhile, Reform is targeting working-class families by cutting support for low-income school uniforms in Barnsley.

The majority of the public support a Wealth Tax on the super-rich but the recent programme by Gary Stevenson won’t persuade the doubters. We know people end up super-rich as much due to good fortune as anything else (such as, just being selfish). We need taxes on the super-rich to share that opportunity. A wealth tax is one option. For example, the Green Party argues that people who have assets of over £10 million should have a hundredth of that taken away each year. A little from the wealthy, a lot for people who need it. That sort of tax has worked, though with strong opposition from some wealthy people, in countries like Norway.

We also know that the super-rich aren’t having a great time. They worry about losing their money, hire security, gate themselves off. They worry about having the biggest yacht, fanciest car, showiest party. A few miles away, the local youth club is boarded up, mum is on the late-shift, the kids look with envy at the clothes drug-dealers wear. The slow violence of consumerism and poverty on body and mind. But rich or poor, what makes us happy is having a laugh, doing good in the community, feeling part of something. Money doesn’t buy that, but money helps everyone have the opportunity. To reopen that youth club, support parents and carers, create good roles and jobs.

A wealth tax needs some things to work well. A national register of assets. Treating land used for farming differently to land used for development. Taxing people who leave the country, so they can’t run from responsibility. But when even the majority of millionaires say we need to tax them more, something needs to change. We need to keep talking about how to share out good fortune. It will make our country a better place for everyone.

Letter to the Sheffield Star

David Fox asks “Why isn’t there a genuine party for the low-paid, homeless and those on benefits? “(Sheffield Star 9.11.22) I have got good news for him, there is! The Green Party.

We want the Government to provide everyone in the UK with a Basic Income. The Green’s plan would scrap Universal Credit and the cruel benefit sanctions regime, which push people further into poverty and destitution.

The plan would eliminate the cruelty of the current benefits system and liberate people from the anxiety of job insecurity. The Conservative Government has targeted and demonised people who face unemployment, disability and low incomes while making the rich even richer. The switch to Universal Credit and unfair benefit sanctions have caused huge suffering for so many people. A basic income would be available to everyone as a right and would not be removed when you get a job. There will be additional payments for groups of people who experience barriers to working, including disabled people, single parents and people of pension age.

The Greens support a £15 per hour minimum wage and are supporting Trade Unions in their struggles for fair pay increases at least in line with inflation.

The Greens want a new emergency tax package which will see both polluters and the richest pay their fair share to enable a nationwide insulation and renewable energy programme that will provide people with warmer, more comfortable homes, bring bills down permanently and reduce inequality.

The package includes a wealth tax on the richest 1% of households, raising at least £70 billion, alongside closing the loopholes in the Conservatives’ windfall tax on oil and gas companies and backdating it to January 2022. This ‘dirty profits tax’ would force the biggest polluters to pay for the damage they cause while protecting everyone else as we transition to a carbon-free future.

Ash Routh

Walkley Green Party

References

Basic Income Scheme

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2019/11/15/green-party-announces-plan-for-fully-costed-universal-basic-income-for-everyone/

Wealth Tax

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/09/30/tax-the-richest-1-to-pay-for-better,-warmer-homes,-say-greens/

Tag: Wealth Tax

Southey’s Choice on 27th August. Green v Reform

Tax wealth for a better UK

A genuine party for the low paid.