General Election 2024: Greens propose big taxes on carbon and the wealthy

The party also aims to simplify the tax system and align the rates of tax paid on income and investment gains, as well as introducing a carbon tax. They estimate that changes to personal direct taxes would raise between £50 and £70 billion a year. Added together the tax changes in the manifesto are estimated to raise £172 billion extra a year by 2029-30.

During the launch event, Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party, criticised other parties' climate policies, saying “The other parties are running away from their promises on climate. Only the Greens understand that the solutions to the climate crisis”. The party has said that they can create “a greener, fairer country”.

The Green Party manifesto can be read here.

Green Party of England and Wales tax and related proposals

(NB. This section generally uses the party’s own wording, though in places text may have been abridged or truncated. All characterisations of proposals or suggestions of their impacts are the party’s own.)

Personal taxes

• Wealth tax of 1% annually on assets above £10 million and of 2% on assets above £1bn.
• Removing the Upper Earnings Limit that restricts the amount of National Insurance paid by high earners, so the rate is 8% on annual wages above £50,270.
• Reform of capital gains tax to align the rates paid by taxpayers on income and taxable gains.
• Aligning the tax rates on investment income with the tax and National Insurance contribution rates on employment income.
• Single rate of pension tax relief at level of the basic rate of income tax to help fund social care.
• Reform inheritance tax, ensuring that intergenerational transfers of wealth are taxed more fairly.

Property taxes

• Re-evaluation of Council Tax bands to reflect changes in value since 1990s.
• Removal of business rate relief on Enterprise Zones, Freeports, petrol stations and most empty properties.
• A survey of all landholdings to pave the way for a Land Value Tax (which is a long-term policy aim).

Indirect taxes

• Introduce a carbon tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction, based on greenhouse gas emissions produced when fuel is burned. This levy, set initially at £120 per tonne of carbon emitted and rising over ten years to a maximum of £500 per tonne, could raise to an additional £80bn annually by the end of the Parliament.
• Push for a frequent-flyer levy.
• End VAT on cultural activities, lowering the prices of everything from museum tickets to gigs in local pubs.
• Make road tax proportional to vehicle weight.

Business taxes and tax compliance

• Support an increase in the rate of the windfall tax on oil and gas production and the closing of existing loopholes and tax-relief mechanisms.
• Introduce a windfall tax on banks when excessive profits are being made.
• Changes to VAT, reducing it on hard-pressed areas such as hospitality and the arts and increasing it on financial services and private education.
• Clamp down on tax dodging: When companies and individuals fail to pay their fair share, it deprives our vital public services of much needed investment.
• Strengthen global tax agreements to stop corporate tax avoidance and evasion, and to ensure a level playing field between UK and transnational businesses.
• Ensure that HMRC has the resources it needs to reduce the gap between taxes due and taxes paid.

Business and employment policies

• Remove all oil and gas subsidies.
• Equal employment rights for all workers from their first day of employment, including those working in the ‘gig economy’ and on zero-hours contracts. Gig employers that repeatedly break employment, data protection or tax law will be denied licences to operate.
• £2bn per year in grant funding for local authorities to help businesses decarbonise.
• Regional mutual banks to be set up to drive investment in decarbonisation and local economic sustainability.
• Increase pay rates and introduce a career structure for carers to rebuild the care workforce.
• Introduce a four-day working week.

Benefits and other personal finances

• An increase in the minimum wage to £15 an hour with the costs to small businesses offset by reducing their National Insurance payments.
• Increase Universal Credit and legacy benefits by £40 a week.
• Abolish the two-child benefit cap.
• In the long term, introduce a universal basic income.
• Restore the value of disability benefits, with an immediate uplift of 5%.