As our planet burns and millions are struggling to pay energy bills, the mega rich are getting richer, and paying less taxes than the rest of us do. We need to urgently shift to renewable, affordable energy for all and it should be funded by taxing billionaires and multi-millionaires.
Tax their billions to fund renewable energy for all!
Oil giants like BP are going all-in on oil and gas, despite the fact that the green economy is booming in the UK. Renewable energy is the future, and polluting fossil fuels are the past. And this is how our shift to affordable, renewable energy and better public services for all could be funded:
We call on the UK Government to back national and global wealth taxes on the mega-rich and for permanent, increased taxes on polluting fossil fuel corporations. This will generate billions of pounds that should pay for the transition to affordable, renewable energy at home, and in the countries that are least responsible for the climate crisis as well as funding vital services like the NHS and eradicating poverty in our wider communities.
Watch the video:
Read the dossier:
Find out that shocking truth behind the dirty deals that some of the world’s wealthiest individuals have made to get richer in our dossier. We also explain why our governments need to tax their billions to pay for clean, affordable energy for everyone and to alleviate the cost of living crisis.
Frequently Asked Questions
We are putting billionaires under the spotlight as an example of our broken economic system and the need for decision-makers at all levels – national, regional and global – to impose an effective wealth tax on the super rich.
The minimal investments in renewable energy that the mega rich are making are doing more harm than good in that it distracts from their outsized impact on the climate. An example: INEOS, which is owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, talks a lot about their sustainability efforts, while producing 22.8 million tonnes of petrochemicals in 2020 (more than in 2019) and also lobbying the UK Government to exempt them from climate taxes. That’s not even the tip of the iceberg of their climate impacts – you can read more here.
Every country has its own tax system so it is vital for wealthy governments like France, Germany and the UK to quickly impose national level wealth taxes on the assets of the super-rich. They need to do this using existing frameworks (eg. capital gains tax in the UK) and implementing new measures that ensure billionaires pay what they owe.
At the same time countries must come together to deliver international rules – at the G20 and EU levels – to close loopholes the super-rich use to avoid paying national level taxes. We are already seeing real momentum behind the proposal of a global wealth tax on billionaires at the G20 – history shows us that something like this can be achieved, with the international agreement on corporation tax.
Research shows that the majority of extremely wealthy people in European countries like the UK would be unlikely to leave the country due to a wealth tax. This is partly due to the reputational risk as tax migrants are viewed as “unduly economically self-interested” and wanting to stay in the country for non-financial reasons such as culture, education and healthcare.
The fact that this question is so often asked shows exactly what billionaires are known for: tax evasion. But just because the mega rich continuously try to avoid paying their taxes is not a good enough reason to not try to force them to pay up. It also shows that the system needs fixing: we need to close the loopholes that let billionaires get away without paying what they owe.
