Wealth tax on UK’s super-rich could raise £10bn a year, Andy Burnham told
New prime minister urged to introduce 2% minimum charge on households with more than £100m in wealth A wealth tax on the UK’s super-rich households could raise £10bn a year, according to academics who urged Andy Burnham to include the measure in his plans to...
A wealth tax aimed at the UK’s richest households could raise about £10bn a year, according to academics who have urged Andy Burnham to back the idea as part of a push to make the tax system fairer and fund stronger public services.
The proposal, reported by The Guardian Business, centres on a 2% minimum charge on households with more than £100m in wealth. Based on the figures cited in the study, the measure would apply to fewer than 1,000 of the richest households in the UK.
The research was carried out by Gabriel Zucman, professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, and Ben Tippet, a lecturer in economics and wealth inequality at King’s College London. Their case for the levy appears to be aimed at a new political agenda under Burnham, whom the academics are urging to include the policy in plans to reform taxation.
According to the feed summary, the proposal is framed as part of a broader argument that higher taxes on extreme wealth could help pay for better public services. The idea of a minimum charge would also seek to ensure that the wealthiest households contribute at a level that cannot be reduced through existing tax arrangements.
The estimate of £10bn a year would make the measure one of the more significant single revenue-raising ideas linked to wealth taxation, if implemented as described. However, the report provided in the monitored public feed does not include details on how such a tax would be administered, whether it would be applied annually to net wealth, or what exemptions might be built in.
Burnham is being presented in the report as the recipient of the academics’ appeal, with the call made in the context of his plans to “make tax fairer.” The feed does not provide a response from Burnham or any other political figure.
Wealth taxes have long been debated in the UK and elsewhere, often over issues of valuation, avoidance, and how to define who should pay. In this case, the proposal described by the academics targets only a very small group of households, focusing on those with wealth above the £100m threshold.
This article is based on a monitored public feed and reflects the details available in the summary provided by The Guardian Business. Source attribution is included below.
Source: The Guardian Business - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/21/uk-wealth-tax-super-rich-andy-burnham
