Proud to pay

Dear Prime Minister,

As our country takes its first step on a new road with you, we hold onto hope and promise: not just for millionaires like us, but with hope in every heart for a better life for everyone. We know our country - its regions, cities, towns, and villages - deserve a better hand than what they’ve been dealt for these last four decades.

As millionaires we have a clear message for you, our new Prime Minister: tax us. We are proud to pay and here to stay.

We know that wealth and power has been concentrated in a small group for too long, at the cost of our country, its people, our democracy and our environment. For a better Britain this has to change; we need to embrace a new kind of devolution of wealth and power, from the very richest in order to reinvest back into our greatest asset in every region—our people.

It is not just us. We represent the majority of UK millionaires. 75 percent of millionaires polled support higher taxes on themselves to defend what they are proud of in this country; and 88 percent are proud to live here. Millionaires are a patriotic bunch - we love this country and we want it to succeed. But success requires investment and a primary source of untouched capital investment is sitting with us, in untaxed potential.

We want you to tax us. We can afford it. We’re not talking about higher taxes on those who get up and go to work for their income every day, but on the very richest whose income is derived from the wealth they hold.

As you decentralise political power, you should also disperse economic power. Extreme wealth sitting idle in the hands of a few can be put to work: reducing inequality, investing in sustainable jobs, strengthening hospitals, schools and social care, supporting entrepreneurs with the skills and infrastructure they need, and giving small businesses access to affordable finance.  Our wealth is our country’s secret weapon - let’s get serious about using it.

There are a few people left with outdated economic thinking and few others desperate to hold onto every penny they can. But they are a minority. Those that can’t see past the end of their own self interest have no place in designing a Britain for the future.

As we embrace this new road - please consider taxing us properly as our contribution to it. We love this country. It’s time for a better Britain; it’s time for everyone here to feel Great Britain. It’s time to tax us, the super rich.