Chancellor should ‘focus’ on taxing wealth – not on who counts as a ‘working person’
Paul Nowak has insisted that people such as teachers and police officers earning more than £45,000 are “working people”.
The secretary general of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) tells the Politics Hub that “of course” these employees are working people – and that the chancellor “will have to look long and hard before she breaks any manifesto commitments”.
It follows our deputy political editor Sam Coates obtaining a copy of the Treasury’s definition of “working people”, which shows it defines this as those earning £45,000 or less – the lower two-thirds of incomes.
Asked who working people are, Nowak says: “We represent people working in supermarkets and in care homes.
“We represent people working at, as I said before, a nuclear power station. We represent people working in the creative industries. We represent professional footballers.
“So, I mean, there’s a huge spectrum there. I think it’s right, though, with the budget that the chancellor has those with the broadest shoulders to pay a fairer share.”
Pushed on whether experienced doctors and teachers earning more than £45,000 should be counted as “working people”, he responds: “Of course they’re working people.”
Instead, he adds: “The focus should be on wealth.
“There’s a real inequality in our society. I know full well there’ll be people watching this programme tonight who don’t feel well off if they’re on £45,000 or £50,000 a year.
“But I also know this: We’ve got hundreds of thousands of members who are struggling to pay heating bills and at the same time, last year in the UK, [it was] a record year for supercars: Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bugattis.”
Darren suggests that a wealth tax, which he seems to be hinting at, is thought not to work as the richest will simply leave.
But Nowak responds that “we hear this every time that people talk about” wealth taxes.
He points out that the chancellor abolished the non-dom status, put VAT on private school fees and began “to equalise capital gains tax with income tax”.
When Darren suggests this has led to falling tax takes, Nowak insists “that’s not the case actually”.
He insists: “Of course, there’s some people who leave.
“The vast majority of wealthy people stay in this country because they believe in this country. They believe it’s right to pay their taxes in this country. And they’ve built their lives and have their families in this country.”
Nowak says it’s “absolutely the right thing to do” to tax the wealthy.
