The Green Party promises to increase taxes on high earners in its manifesto and claims the plans would generate £70 billion a year to fix a “broken Britain”.
The party has set out “game-changing” changes in housing, transport and the green economy.
The plans also include increasing National Insurance (NI) rates to 8% on annual wages over £50,270 – equating to an extra £283.74 a year in tax for someone earning £55,000.
Co-leader Adrian Ramsay said the Greens were “the only party being honest” about the scale of reforms needed to solve the climate crisis, housing and the NHS.
The Green Party proposes a 1% wealth tax on all assets declared on tax returns of over £10 million, and a 2% wealth tax on all assets over £1 billion.
They say the measures would affect less than 1% of UK households and raise £15 billion a year by the end of the next parliament, money that would go towards the NHS.
Mr Ramsay told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the tax increases were “modest” by European standards and the Greens wanted to challenge the “conspiracy of silence” about the need for tax increases.
Asked about a similar wealth tax introduced in France in 2016 which some research has suggested could lead to an exodus of the wealthy, Ramsay insisted the super-rich would stay in the UK.
“We’ve done some careful modelling and assume that this tax may cause a few billionaires to leave the country, which is why our numbers are conservative,” he said.
“But most people don’t want to leave. Most want to stay in the country for family or work reasons.”
“If you have a successful business in the country, it’s not really easy to just pack up and leave, so you’re asking the most generous people to pay you a little more.”
And reforms to the National Insurance (NI) system will mean that anyone earning more than £50,270 will pay an extra £5 a week in tax.
Currently, employees don’t pay National Insurance contributions if they earn £12,570 or less in 2023/24, pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on earnings over £50,270.
Under the Green Party plan, an 8% tax rate would be paid on all wages above a maximum income threshold.
On tax, the Greens said:
- No further increases to the main corporate tax rate
- We will introduce a carbon tax on businesses, starting at £120 per tonne of emissions and rising to £500 per tonne over 10 years, to encourage companies to decarbonise.
- A temporary 75% tax on fossil fuel profits would be extended to banks, raising an extra £9 billion a year.
- Bring capital gains taxes in line with income tax rates.
The party has published details of its Green Economy Transition Programme, which aims to retrofit homes across the UK to make them more energy efficient and warmer and cheaper to keep running.
The Green Party plans to run candidates in every constituency in England and Wales in the July 4 election, but will focus on four constituencies it believes it can win.
Mr Ramsay also confirmed that four of the 574 candidates had been replaced after the party launched an investigation into reports of anti-Semitism and extremist rhetoric.
“From that huge pool, the four originally selected are now not running and new candidates have been nominated in their place,” he said.
Asked about other candidates under investigation, he said he “cannot name all the candidates,” adding that the vetting process was “separate from the leadership as a matter of good governance.”
Since the start of the election campaign, the Greens have pursued a strategy of portraying Labour as too similar to the Conservatives.
Ahead of the election, Mr Ramsay said: “Labour and the Conservatives prefer to hide their plans to cut public services rather than confront the need for a fair tax system that makes the richest people pay more tax – including the richest people in society who have gotten even richer over the last 14 years.”
“With more Greens in parliament, Labor will not back down from any more pledges.”
“We’re going to encourage them to be more courageous and ambitious and actually do what it takes to fix our broken country and get it back on track.”
The manifesto launch will take place in Hove.
Sian Berry, the party’s candidate in Brighton Pavilion, said: “The time for half measures and empty promises is over. The Green Party is the only party offering real hope and real change in this election.”
BBC News will be covering the manifesto launch live, including a press conference where the party can be questioned and the details of the plan analysed.
The Scottish Green Party is a separate political party.
