“We need a fair, wide-ranging and redistributive tax policy.”
By the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
Our Tax Justice policy sets out how improvements to the UK’s tax system can raise the money needed to protect and improve public services without resorting to damaging cuts.
PCS general secretary, Fran Heathcote, introduced the report at the lunch and learn event on 23 October by saying, “The policy is more than just a simple ‘Tax the Rich’ slogan, but offers concrete ways where money can be brought into the exchequer to address the current twin crises of the cost of living and the deteriorating services.”
Fran set out the steps that the policy recommends, such as:
- Charging capital gains at the same rate as income tax, which could raise £12 billion
- Reinstating the Investment Income Surcharge, which could generate up to £18 billion
- Introducing a wealth tax which could generate £22 billion, possibly more
- Abolishing the upper earnings limit on National Insurance, which HMRC estimated would generate an additional £11.1 billion.
Fran outlined how the policy recommended that genuine political pressure needs to be placed on the UK’s Overseas Territories/Crown Dependencies, to ensure full disclosure of all assets held by non-residents, including, if necessary, using our own crown mechanisms to ensure those dependencies comply. While at home, we should be requiring large companies and wealthy individuals with incomes over £1million to have their tax returns made publicly available, so we can shed light on where taxes are being avoided or evaded.
She added: “Underpinning all this is the need to ensure that HMRC and Companies House have enough staff to ensure the taxes that are due are all being collected. HMRC currently has around 33% fewer staff now than it did when the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise merged in 2005, that indicates a real shortfall in staff levels.
“We’ve learned over the years that when ordinary people have more money in their pocket, they spend it in the local and national economy… When the wealthiest have more money in their pocket, that goes straight to the Cayman Islands, and that is why we need a fair, wide-ranging and redistributive tax policy.”
Chairing the meeting, PCS national president Martin Cavanagh introduced emeritus professor of accounting, Lord (Prem) Sikka, who he said had provided PCS with invaluable assistance in the development of our policy.
Lord Sikka continued the theme of the need for a more redistributive and fairer tax policy by highlighting that the bottom 20% of households in the UK pay more tax in proportion than the richest 20%.
He said, “We are challenging our critics, who claim that if you tax more, somehow that is a disaster for the country; it just means you get better services.
“You can’t have Scandinavian levels of public services and benefits on American levels of taxes.”
He said that progressive policies like the ones put forward in our report are the only way the government will achieve growth. “Unless you address the stark levels of poverty that we have in this country, there is no possibility of economic growth. So, tax has many functions, one of which is to reduce inequalities.”
He said that he fully supports HMRC having proper staffing and resources and warned the government against plans to reduce its budget in future years.
He said, “We don’t have to worry about upsetting the rich; we need to think about what benefits society at large.”
The third and final speaker was national vice president and HMRC group representative Marianne Owens. She spoke of the need for the political will to address this issue. Referring to the financial crisis in 2008, “We had money being thrown at the banks, but at the same time we had large numbers of huge companies that just weren’t paying any tax whilst we were being made to suffer.” She said that this was why PCS had launched its original campaign for tax justice.
Marianne also argued that low staffing levels in HMRC needed to be addressed, but said that low pay was also a big issue. “We have a further problem within HMRC, and that is the recruitment and the retention of staff. It’s very, very difficult to get staff through the door because of the dire pay situation that we’ve got; around a third of staff are on the national minimum wage.”
Following an interesting question and answer session with members, Martin wrapped up the meeting by thanking the speakers and those that had attended. He said that this campaign is trying to change the narrative on taxation as well as the political will. “We generally do believe that if our campaign is successful, then that will significantly reduce the amount of cost to services and fund public services.”
- You can read PCS’s “The Need for Tax Justice” policy here.
- You follow the PCS on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram, and their General Secretary Fran Heathcote on Twitter/X.
- This was originally published on the PCS website on 27 October 2025.
