Every one of the sixty people made at least £50 million a year in 2021–2022, but many of them will have made much more and most likely paid hefty amounts in additional taxes as well.
These figures, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, demonstrate how dependent the tax system is on a limited group of people. There are worries that tax increases in this month’s budget may cause the ultra-rich to leave the UK, harming the country’s finances.
While Labour rejected adjustments to the income tax, Chancellor Rachel Reeves left the door open to more tax increases.
According to a Treasury official, “addressing unfairness in the tax system” is a top priority for the government.
The total income tax paid by the individuals is approximately equal to the sum of the additional spending pledges made by Labour in their manifesto earlier this year, or roughly two thirds of it.
The UK will lose half a million millionaires by 2028, according to a July prediction by Swiss financial behemoth UBS, in part because some of them would be moving to low-tax nations.
According to the IFS, the Treasury should be aware that the departure of even a small portion of this extremely wealthy group would leave a “relatively big hole in its finances.”
However, the Green Party contended that it was implausible to suggest that higher taxes on the wealthy would force them to leave the UK.
