Sign the Petition: #TaxTheBanks
Target: Chancellor Rachel Reeves
We're calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to introduce a windfall tax on big banks’ profits to support households that need it the most and help fund the NHS this winter.
Years of higher interest rates have sent our rent, mortgage, and debt payments soaring, while banks have raked in huge profits for doing absolutely nothing. The big four UK banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest) made pre-tax profits of £44.3 billion in 2023. Four times higher than in 2020 as a direct result of the Bank of England’s rate hikes. [1]
Increasing the bank surcharge from 3% to 35%, in line with the 35% Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies who also profited from the cost of living crisis, would’ve brought in an extra £14 billion - two-thirds of the famed ‘fiscal blackhole’.
Banks are (unsurprisingly) against this. CEOs from Lloyds and HSBC have publicly begged politicians not to, and bankers warned against it in a recent meeting with the Chancellor. [2] But after deciding not to scrap the two-child benefit cap and cutting pensioner’s winter fuel payments, it’s time for this new government to show whose side they’re really on.
Rachel Reeves could use her first Budget to prove that Labour aren’t in the pocket of big donors or beholden to corporate lobbyists from the City. Introducing a windfall tax on banks would clearly signal the kind of change she and Keir Starmer promised to deliver, and that millions of us desperately want to see.
After 15 years of austerity, our schools are crumbling. Our water and transport infrastructure is creaking at the seams, and the NHS is facing another winter crisis. Now more than ever we need big, bold investment, and a windfall tax on banks is the perfect place to start.
Add your name now to tell Rachel Reeves to #TaxTheBanks.
Notes:
[1] Positive Money: Taxing banks’ record profits could raise £14bn for public services
[2] The Times: HSBC boss warns on windfall profits, The Times
The Guardian: Lloyds chief urges UK policymakers to keep their hands off banks’ profits
Financial Times: Bankers fear Rachel Reeves is preparing UK Budget tax raid on sector