Gary Lineker joins calls for wealth tax - The Latest

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Today in Focus – The Latest
Episode: Gary Lineker joins calls for wealth tax
Date: July 23, 2026
Host: Nosheen Iqbal
Guest: Aditya Chakraborty (Guardian columnist & Senior Economics Commentator)

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the growing debate over a wealth tax in the UK, sparked by public support from figures like Gary Lineker. The discussion clarifies what a wealth tax is, why it is resonating with the public, the practicalities and pitfalls of such a policy, and considers alternatives for addressing inequality and underfunded public services. Aditya Chakraborty offers expert analysis, drawing on recent research and political context.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Is a Wealth Tax Back in the Spotlight?

• Public Frustration & Inequality: The idea of a wealth tax is gaining traction amid enduring frustrations about stagnant wages, rising inequality, and visible disparities in wealth and influence.
  • "It speaks to a huge frustration that I think is felt not just in this country, but across rich countries. In Britain...we haven't had much in the way of growth in our wages for nearly 20 years since the banking crash." – Aditya Chakraborty (01:53)
• Role of High-Net-Worth Individuals: Public figures, including Gary Lineker and Green Party leader Zack Polanski, are publicly backing higher taxation on millionaires as a matter of fairness and fiscal necessity.

2. What Exactly Is Being Proposed?

• Polanski's Proposal: An annual tax on wealth, targeting assets above a substantial threshold (e.g., £10 million), with an expected yield of around £15 billion for the Treasury.
  • "What Zach Polanski is proposing is an annual tax on people's wealth... that would raise about 15 billion pounds." – Aditya Chakraborty (03:08)
• Variability of Estimates: Revenue projections vary widely—some experts estimate closer to £10 billion due to uncertainties from the absence of a previous wealth tax.
  • "Estimates really vary...so long that I wouldn't take any of the figures too seriously." – Aditya Chakraborty (03:18)

3. Mechanics: How Would It Work?

• Annual Wealth Tax: A yearly assessment of total assets (houses, stocks, art, collections), with a 2% levy above the threshold.
  • Examples include homes, stocks, fine art, and even collectible items.
• Alternative: One-Off Wealth Tax: The Wealth Tax Commission suggests a "one-time raid" as a more impactful and harder-to-avoid measure, potentially raising up to £300 billion by targeting a broader range of asset holders at the stroke of midnight—without warning for tax planning.
  • "If you really wanted a wealth tax and you really wanted to raise cash, you go hard and you do a one time raid...they reckoned you could raise about £300 billion back up." – Aditya Chakraborty (04:16)

4. Popularity & Fairness vs. Policy Realities

• Tax Fatigue & High Burden: The tax burden in the UK is already the highest since WWII, fueling resistance to new forms of taxation among the middle and upper-middle class.
  • "Every time a tax comes around...people go, oh God, this again. And...the tax burden...is at its highest since the Second World War." – Aditya Chakraborty (06:18)
• Impact on Ordinary People: The ambitious one-off tax would hit not just the super-rich but also many people who consider themselves “ordinary,” such as homeowners in major cities.

5. Policy Alternatives & Broader Solutions

• Tweak Existing Taxes: Instead of introducing an entirely new tax, there is scope to make wealth taxes more effective by reforming and raising existing ones (e.g., inheritance tax, capital gains tax).
  • "Why would you not just use those taxes which are already there, and raise them, which would get you more money in, as opposed to just trying to confect a new tax..." – Aditya Chakraborty (10:15)
• Deeper Structural Change Needed: Addressing inequality requires structural reforms: stronger trade unions, more public control of services, and better media regulation.
  • "If you want to reverse that...you need to have more services back in hands in public, you need to have stronger trade unions, you need to have a better news and information ecosystem..." – Aditya Chakraborty (08:05)

6. Will the Government Act?

• Political Reality Check: Andy Burnham’s administration is unlikely to launch a full-blown wealth tax soon, but incremental changes to existing taxes are expected to continue.
  • "I'm not against the wealth tax, but I would not be sure that there will be anything marked a wealth tax that in any budget between now and the next election." – Aditya Chakraborty quoting Andy Burnham (09:25)
• No Popular Mandate: Since a wealth tax was absent from Labour’s 2024 manifesto, major new taxation would require broad popular support that does not currently exist.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Public Anger and Inequality
  "Why do these people get to run our world? How do we get to have more of a degree of power back and how do we get some more money back? Why am I being taxed all the time for all these things? And it feels like my life is very hard and I can see these people at the top and their life's not hard."
  – Aditya Chakraborty (01:53)

• On the Symbolism vs. Substance of a Wealth Tax
  "The wealth tax is basically how you go about doing all sorts of different things. Not only do you raise a bit of money, you start to turn back the forces of inequality, you rein in the billionaires..."
  – Aditya Chakraborty (07:10)

• On Feasibility of Wealth Tax Legislation
  “The idea of something that just is cool, is wrapped up in fancy wrapping and is called a wealth tax. I think that's for the birds.”
  – Aditya Chakraborty (10:09)

• On Going Beyond Taxation
  “What I would love to see from Andy Burnham is... stronger trade unions, more public services back in the hands of the public, and something done on media regulation so we have less of the will of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg running things.”
  – Aditya Chakraborty (11:16)

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:41 — Framing of the wealth tax debate and underlying frustrations
• 01:53 — Reasons for the wealth tax’s resurgence
• 03:08 – 03:40 — Proposals on the table: annual and one-off wealth tax
• 04:16 – 06:04 — Wealth Tax Commission’s recommendations and potential revenue
• 06:18 – 07:10 — Public services, tax burden, and austerity’s effects
• 08:05 – 09:13 — Alternatives: strengthening existing policies and broader reforms
• 09:25 – 10:09 — Government likelihood to act, Burnham’s stance
• 10:15 — Practicality of existing vs. new taxes

---

Takeaway

This episode provides a clear-eyed look at the renewed push for a UK wealth tax, highlighting both its popular appeal and the practical and political hurdles it faces. While the symbolism of a wealth tax is powerful, expert analysis suggests that real progress toward reducing inequality and funding public services will likely require both systemic reform and incremental tax changes rather than a sweeping new levy.

Transcript

[Aditya Chakraborty]

This is the Guardian.

[Podcast Narrator]

From globalization to innovation sustainability to market volatility, there's always more than one side to a story. Explore different perspectives on today's most important business and economic issues with the Flipside podcast from Barclays Investment Bank. Hear two research analysts in a lively debate and get insights from every angle. To further inform your view, listen to the flip side on your favorite platform.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Something called a wealth tax does capture the imagination and it does speak to a frustration that lots of people have. Why is it me that's always getting taxed? Why isn't other people economically, what can you do differently? A wealth tax, possibly of the super rich? I'm not going to rule things out right now. I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness. It's really interesting to see Andy Burnham's stance on this because. Because they do need to raise more money. The idea of something that is wrapped up in fancy wrapping and is called a wealth tag, I think that's for

[Noshi Nikbal]

the birds from the Guardians today. In Focus. This is the latest with me, Noshi Nikbal. Gary Lineker has put his name to a letter calling for millionaires like himself to be taxed more, I should say. Aditya Trukravorti, you're the Guardian columnist, senior economics commentator and recently rewarded an MBE for public service for your under public understanding of economics. No, it's an honor, literally. Who. So who better to explain to us the concept of a wealth tax? Namely, let's start with why is the idea of it become so popular again,

[Aditya Chakraborty]

it speaks to a huge frustration that I think is felt not just in this country, but across rich countries. In Britain, it's. We haven't had much in the way of growth in our wages for nearly 20 years since the banking crash. It's a very high, highly unequal economy we see in the news. And in fact our news is increasingly controlled by billionaires. We're going to go on a platform which is owned by billionaires. Right? And the wealth tax speaks that great frustration. Like what? Why do these people get to run our world? How do we get to have more of a degree of power back and how do we get some more money back? Why am I being taxed all the time for all these things? And it feels like my life is very hard and I can see these people at the top and their life's not hard. And not only is their life not hard, they're taking more and more stuff. And the wealth tax speaks to all of that.

[Noshi Nikbal]

And so before we get to the mechanics of how it works, there's this idea that it would raise about £15 billion for the Treasury. Treasury is something that Zach Polanski, leader of the Green Party, has also put forward as something that he would absolutely back. Does that sound about right?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

So just to be really clear, what Zach Polanski is proposing is an annual tax on people's wealth and he's saying that would raise about 15 billion pounds.

[Advertisement Voice 1]

Okay.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Estimates really vary. They're all over the shop on, on this stuff machine. We haven't had a wealth tax in this country for so long that I wouldn't take any of the figures too seriously. So yes, it could be 15 billion, it could be 10 billion, be it could be more or less. I've seen independent experts come out with a figure which is closer to 10 billion, but there's no reason to believe that Zach Plansky's wrong.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay, so to the question of how, what exactly would be taxed? How much, how will it work? What is Gary Lineker saying take more of? And how would the government do it?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

So the wealth tax that's been proposed by the likes of Zap Polanski and Gary Lineker and the economist Gary Stevenson, is basically that someone comes around with a form once a year and they say, so how much have you got in assets? Which means everything from your house to your fine art, your stock portfolios, maybe a collection of wines, I don't know,

[Noshi Nikbal]

Nisheen sounds very much like me, of course, yeah, all of these things.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Collection of bikes, who knows? But the, but the, but the point is they say, okay, over a certain threshold, let's say £10 million, you'll pay 2% of a levy on that. Now what I should say is that the best and most comprehensive study of wealth taxes in this country, which was done during the COVID pandemic by a group called the Wealth Tax Commission, said that is not the way to go. Right, that will raise you some money, about £10 billion was their estimate. But if you really wanted a wealth tax and you really wanted to raise cash, you go hard and you do a one time raid. So taxman all of a sudden at the stroke of midnight tonight says, okay, everyone who's got assets over a certain threshold, actually their threshold is a lot lower. It would be someone who owned a house in, in London, say, or Manchester, you pay a certain levy and then that's it, there's no more wealth taxes ever again. And they reckoned you could raise about £300 billion back up.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I'm not sure I understand. Tell that to me again. So the more you own, the higher you pay or.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

No, no.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay. It's just a one off flat rate.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

So the key thing about the one off thing is it really is just one time. It's done at the dead of night. You cannot plan for it. You do not have time to get your accountants and lawyers on the line. Right. You can't dodge it. And it applies to a lot more people than the supposed billionaires and multi, multi millionaires. It applies to people who might think of themselves as living perfectly ordinary, if comfortable lives in C, who will have to pay a lot more. But the other big advantage of that, they said, is you could just raise so much money, you could raise something close to £300 billion in one go.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Wow.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Now that's a sizable chunk of change.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I mean, with a huge caveat that it'd be so unpopular with a grand swathe of people who aren't, as you say, they don't consider themselves to be rich but would definitely be stung by it.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

That's such an interesting point, Nisheen. I. Because my sense of how a lot of people feel whether they're rich or poor is they feel taxed out already. And every time a tax comes around, whether it's done by Rishi Sunak or Rachel Reeves, people go, oh God, this again. And if you look at the figures, the tax burden, as some economists call it, is at its highest since the Second World War. So we're paying more in tax as a share of our pay packets than we, than we have done for 80 years. Now there is also a big problem in this country that it is completely obvious to anyone who walks around that our public services, our public infrastructure, the public realm, our parks, our nurseries, our schools, none of them in the best of repair. Right? This is what having years of austerity does to you.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Inequality is stark.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

And not only is inequality stark, but the deterioration of our public realm is really, really obvious to anyone who tries to use it. So we've got to get money from somewhere. And that wealth tax people say, well, this is how you do it. I guess my kind of chief quibble with this is that they say the wealth tax is basically how you go about doing all sorts of different things. Not only do you raise a bit of money, you can you start to turn back the forces of inequality, you rein in the billionaires, but what else

[Noshi Nikbal]

then could be done? I mean, from what I understand from passing your pieces, Aditya, that you aren't necessarily a huge fan of the wealth tax in its current proposal because you don't think it raises enough money. But for a lot of people, even the symbolism of what would be seen as an act of courage by any government to try and address the disparities in wealth would be taken, you know, I'd say, you know, pretty positively. But what are the other alternatives that you would propose?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

A tax on wealth and attacks on the money that you make from properties and financial assets. That's all good, right? That will raise you some money, but it won't achieve all the various things that wealth tax campaigners are calling for, because for that you need to do a lot more. This is a highly unequal country. It did not just happen overnight. It happened because we sold off our public sector, we squeezed our unions, we took away working rights from people. So. So actually, if we continued on the same share of wealth and worker power that we had in the 70s, the average household would be something close to 10 grand a year better off. That's how far back we've gone. So if you want to reverse that, then what do you need? Well, you need to have more services back in hands in public. You need to have stronger trade unions, you need to have a better news and information ecosystem, which is not in the hands of tech oligarchs, which means more publicly owned media. And you need generally to have a shift in relations between Labour and capital, back towards capital, as we used to have in our past.

[Noshi Nikbal]

And how confident are you, given about a week in the new Prime Minister and every day there's a new announcement, how confident are you that this is something that the Burnham administration, Cabinet may consider?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

It's really interesting to see Andy Burnham's stance on this because he said to Gary, Gary Lineker, look, I'm not against the wealth tax, but I would not be sure that there will be anything marked a wealth tax that in any budget between now and the next election.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Right.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

I would not be betting on that.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

However, what I could easily see is him doing exactly the kind of things that Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer did before, which is they did raise taxes on wealth. You know, they did change inheritance tax, they did change capital gains tax. I expect those changes to continue because they do need to raise more money to keep our public services running. The idea of something that just is cool, is wrapped up in fancy wrapping and is called a wealth tax. I think that's for the birds.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Really?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Yeah. Because I do not think.

[Noshi Nikbal]

But it captures the imagination, doesn't it?

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Yes. Something called a wealth tax does capture the imagination and it does speak to Frustration that lots of people have with our politics and economics. Why is it me that's always getting taxed? Why isn't other people? The thing is, is that if you're sat in the treasury and you're imagine you're a civil servant in treasury trying to do, trying to get a budget together, well, you have these taxes already that you use on wealth. Why would you not just use those taxes which are already there, and raise them, which would get you more money in, as opposed to just trying to confect a new tax, entirely new, and say, let's call that a wealth tax. For that you need an actual popular mandate. And that was not something that the Labour Party campaigned on in 2024. In their manifesto, there's no mention of wealth tax. And so it'd be very difficult for Burnham to bring something like that in.

[Noshi Nikbal]

So make the taxes we have more efficient, make them pay better, rather than spend political capital on creating an entirely new one.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

But what I would love to see from Andy Burnham is I'd love to see stronger trade unions, I'd love to see more public services back in the hands of the public and I'd love to see something done on media regulation so we have less of the will of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg running

[Noshi Nikbal]

things remains to be seen. Aditya Chakraborty, thank you so much for your time.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

Thank you.

[Noshi Nikbal]

That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Aditya Chakraborty, Guardian columnist and senior economics commentator. Thanks for listening to this episode of the latest Today in Focus. We'll be back with you as usual tomorrow morning and we'll be back tomorrow night. This episode was produced by Angus Neal. The senior producer is Ryan Ramgobin, the executive producer is Zoe Hitch and it was presented by me, Noshi Nikbal.

[Aditya Chakraborty]

This is the Guardian.

[Advertisement Voice 2]

When everything is moving all at once, your workforce, your tech stack, your business, you don't need more tools. You need one solution. That's why Paylocity built a single platform to connect hr, finance and IT with AI driven insights and automated workflows that simplify the complex and power. What's next? Because when everything comes together in one place, growth comes easy experience. One place for all your HCM needs. Start [e-mail] 1.

[Advertisement Voice 1]

Summer smells like salt in the air and warm sand. Restore your sense of place with Pura's new summer fragrance collection. Discover transportive clean [e-mail] Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app you get a vpn, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring and even up to 5 million in identity theft insurance all backed by 24. 7 US based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or even just a vpn. Aura gives you all of it together at the same price Competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at aura.com safety protect yourself [e-mail] safety.