How are you going to pay for it?
This is the main question asked of any change in goverment policy and rightly so. It is our money as a society that is being spent after all. So here are the main ways we the Liberal Democrats will pay for what they plan to do to make the UK a better place to live for everyone.
Our manifesto will to fund investments in the NHS, social care, childcare, and the environment through a major tax increase on the wealthy. Launched by Sir Ed Davey today (10th of June 2024), it includes higher capital gains tax, levies on frequent flyers and private jet users, and increased taxes on banks, digital services, oil companies, tobacco companies, and polluting water companies. Together, these aim to raise £26.8bn.
We also propose a 4% tax on share buybacks and reversing bank tax breaks to raise additional funds of approx. £1.4bn. We want to reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged university students immediately and improve social care provision.
But won’t the billionaires (like Rishi Sunak) just find loopholes or move their money further offshore? It is expected that 30 per cent of theoretical extra revenues might be lost through this “behavioural change” as wealthy individuals tried to avoid the new rates, but that this was factored into these revenue calculations.
To quote Sir Ed: “Most people will pay the same or less. If you are very, very wealthy — 0.1 per cent of the population — you will pay a lot more tax. Multimillionaires and billionaires will pay a lot more.”
Sounds like a fair deal to me.