A CITY Councillor has called for the government to introduce a tax on the richest in society to help fund public services.
Tor Pingree, Worcester City Councillor for St Clements and the Green Party candidate for Worcester in the 2024 General Election, has set out the party’s priorities for the government ahead of the Autumn Budget on Wednesday (October 30.)
“This budget is an opportunity to tackle the crises in the NHS and the cost of living, to improve equality and make progress on reducing carbon emissions,” she said. “We do not want to hear that there is no money for public services.
“We should not be taxing working people; the Green Party would introduce a 2 per cent tax on wealth above £10 million, which could raise £24 billion per year.
“This would help hugely to repair the public services that are falling apart such as the NHS, education and social care.”
On Sunday (October 27) chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that £1.4 billion would be set aside to refurbish around 500 schools across the UK.
However, it has also been reported that she is considering a £100 million cut to the nature-friendly farming budget.
Cllr Pingree said: “It is worrying to hear that the nature-friendly farming budget is being cut when biodiversity and nature are in rapid decline.
“This is the opposite of what needs to happen if we’re going to preserve nature and maintain food security.”
A letter from Conservative MPs to the chancellor said that cutting that budget would be “a short-sighted act of self-harm.”
Cllr Pingree added: “Those with the most wealth should be asked to pay a bit more to ease the burden on everyone else and to restore the public services that we all use.
“The government has been talking about taking tough decisions since before it was elected; it’s time that people with less were protected instead of being made to suffer.
“We’ve just had 14 years of that and it has to stop.”