Gary Lineker has renewed his call for a wealth tax on the super wealthy, asking how much money the very richest “actually need” and predicting heavy lobbying against any such measure from those who would pay it.
The former footballer and Match of the Day presenter, 65, is one of more than 120 UK millionaires who signed an open letter organised by Patriotic Millionaires UK urging the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to introduce a 2 per cent wealth tax on assets exceeding £10 million.
Speaking on Davina McCall’s Begin Again podcast on Thursday, Lineker said there comes a point in a person’s life “where you have a wealth” and can “perhaps contribute to society”. He acknowledged that anyone can already pay more voluntarily, but argued that this misses the point. “I think if you can get it as a kind of law that the super wealthy contribute more to society, it would make sense,” he said.
The open letter to Mr Burnham, published in July, was covered by Business Matters when millionaires urged the new Prime Minister to tax their wealth, and prompted a public rejection of the idea from the broadcaster James May.
“Will they really leave over 0.2 per cent of their wealth?”
Lineker took aim at the argument that a wealth tax would drive the richest out of the country. “Especially when you’re talking about obviously super wealthy, like the billionaires, and you think, well, and they say, well, they’ll just leave the country. Will they really over like 0.2 per cent of their wealth? I mean, would they? Why? And you just think, well, would you want those kind of people in the country?”
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