Invest in public services with a Robin Hood Tax
Ahead of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget today, could a Robin Hood tax help address inequality and end austerity? asks Dominic MacAskill, Unison Cymru Wales head of local government...
CUTS to our local services. Cuts to our libraries. Cuts to our refuse collection. Cuts to the po- lice.
It seems our newspapers report nothing but cuts at the moment.
I don’t want to live in a country where public services are disappearing; where all the things that make my town a healthy and liveable community are being chopped.
Working for Unison, I witness how hard carers, cleaners, school support staff, highway repair workers and NHS staff and many more are working, and how for them public service is a badge of honour.
Yet they have suffered seven years of pay freezes or below-inflation pay awards driven by the UK government, reducing their spending power by 21% in real terms.
We have to aspire to something better than this, where we invest in public services and the workforce which delivers them. That is why we are urging Chancellor Philip Hammond to introduce a Robin Hood Tax in tomorrow’s budget.
This innovative tax, also known as the Financial Transactions Tax, could deliver millions of pounds for cash-strapped Welsh councils.
Under intolerable pressure after years of huge Westminster spending cuts, local authorities across Wales are closing or down-grading services such as libraries, youth services, parks and leisure services and environmental and food hygiene services.
It’s not often the likes of Bill Gates, Angela Merkel and Unison are in agreement, but we know a small tax paid on financial trading would provide enormous funds for public services at no financial cost to the overwhelming majority of the population.
The sums a Robin Hood Tax would deliver for Wales are startling:
Four months of a Robin Hood Tax could reverse all cuts to total Welsh Government spending since austerity began;
two weeks of a Robin Hood Tax could prevent the need for further cuts to Welsh Government spending on public services over the next few years;
ten days of a Robin Hood Tax could return the services for each vulnerable older person in Wales to the level provided before austerity began; and
six weeks of a Robin Hood Tax could replace all funding currently provided by the EU for development in rural and deprived parts of Wales.
Currently, there is a tax on the purchase of shares which delivers £3.7bn to the UK exchequer each year. The Robin Hood Tax would modernise the existing Stamp Duty on shares and close current loopholes. This could raise £25bn of additional revenue every five-year parliament, potentially providing a much-needed new source of funding for local councils.
There is no doubt UK government spending cuts over the last seven years have brought Welsh public services to crisis point. They are under threat of extinction as austerity continues.
Consider for a moment recent announcements from various local authorities. Neath Port Talbot council is expected to find an additional £60m over the next five years.
Cardiff council has said it needs to make £23m in savings in next year’s budget, and increasing the price of school meals, and the cost of burials and cremations were ideas mooted to make savings.
Last month Wrexham council announced £13m in cuts over the next two years. Ceredigion council has identified £2.4m in cuts to be made and was suggesting that closing public toilets will help achieve this figure.
Anglesey council is seeking to save £7m over the next three years and three libraries are threatened.
Garden waste collection charges are being introduced in Flintshire as the council battles to balance the books. Gwynedd Council is considering closing all youth clubs as it grapples with reduced funding.
These are shameful cuts for a civilised society to be making. Time is running out to save services and protect our communities.
A Robin Hood Tax is sensible economics for our times and is endorsed by a thousand economists, Desmond Tutu, Michael Moore, Bill Nighy and Emma Thompson.
It is official policy of the Labour Party and the US Democrat Party.
Do the right thing, Mr Hammond, and introduce a Robin Hood Tax to stop our vital public services withering away completely. www.robinhoodtax.org.uk
Dominic MacAskill is Unison Cymru Wales head of local government