The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to consider a package of wealth taxes in the autumn budget, arguing that extra revenue is needed to boost public services and demonstrate that Labour is delivering change.
Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, told the BBC that ministers should not “take anything off the table”, including a conventional wealth tax, equalising capital gains tax with income tax, and higher levies on banks and financial institutions.
“We need a progressive tax system – a tax on online gaming companies and gambling companies, a tax on windfall profits which the banks and financial institutions have seen over the last couple of years,” Nowak said.
He highlighted that Britain’s “big four” high street banks made £46bn in profits in one year alone, buoyed by a high-interest rate environment. “We think we can still have a profitable banking sector and ask them to pay their fair share,” he said.
The calls come as Reeves faces the challenge of balancing Labour’s strict fiscal rules with a funding gap estimated at up to £40bn. The prime minister has insisted those rules are “non-negotiable,” making tax rises in November look increasingly likely.
Reeves has so far resisted demands for a broad-based wealth tax, but she has pointed to recent moves to tax private jets, second homes and capital gains as evidence Labour is already asking more of the wealthy.
In a statement last month she said: “I think we’ve got the balance right in terms of how we tax those with the broadest shoulders. But any further decisions will be made at a budget in the normal way.”
Nowak warned Labour that failing to act decisively could leave voters disillusioned and drive support to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which holds its party conference this weekend.
“Change still feels like a slogan not lived reality,” he said. “There is a real danger if the government doesn’t deliver the change people want, they will become disillusioned with mainstream politics, and some will look for divisive alternatives like Reform.”
The TUC leader argued that public opinion is supportive of wealth taxes, citing union polling showing strong backing among voters who had shifted from Labour to Reform.
Asked about market concerns that taxing banks more heavily could spook investors, Nowak said Britain remained attractive to international capital, pointing to the lack of an “exodus of millionaires” after reforms to non-dom status and VAT on school fees.
While Reeves has set a cautious tone, figures across the wider Labour movement – and in Downing Street itself – are pushing for a tougher stance on wealth. Baroness Minouche Shafik, now a senior economic adviser to the prime minister, has previously called for higher taxation on wealth and land.
“The public aren’t daft – they know there are difficult choices,” Nowak said. “We need a grown-up conversation.”
For Reeves, the debate is intensifying ahead of 26 November, when she delivers her second budget. Whether she chooses to lean on wealth taxes or other measures will be seen as a key test of Labour’s credibility on both fairness and fiscal discipline.
