Gary Lineker Has Urged Andy Burnham To Impose A Wealth Tax On Him And Other Millionaires

Gary Lineker, along with a group of 120 other British millionaires, has signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to introduce a 2% wealth tax on individuals with fortunes exceeding £10 million.

The campaign, orchestrated by the group Patriotic Millionaires UK, is asking for higher levies on extreme wealth to help repair public services and combat escalating inequality.

They reckon this wealth tax could raise £24 billion a year – plus an additional £12 billion by aligning capital gains tax with income tax.

Alongside Lineker (who has a net worth of £30 million), the “Proud to Pay” letter was signed by musician Brian Eno, screenwriter Richard Curtis, and novelist Val McDermid.

Signatories say that they can easily afford it and that extreme wealth shouldn’t sit idle while hospitals, schools, and infrastructure crumble.

Obviously this petition has upset other millionaires who aren’t quite as keen to pay more tax. Their political puppets have already spoken out, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK economic spokesman Robert Jenrick both dismissing the petition as “virtue signalling”.

They countered that if Lineker and co wish to contribute more tax, they are free to write a cheque directly to the HM Treasury voluntary donation facility.

Which might sound like a fair enough argument, but then kind of kills the whole purpose of the thing which is to have the wealthiest in society pay more tax. The point of Lineker and co’s suggestion isn’t “I want to pay more tax” but rather “people like me are so well off that we should be made to pay more even if we voluntarily wouldn’t do it”.

Besides, the country can’t budget based on donations, it needs to know (or at least be able to project) what funds will be available to them. It also isn’t that useful if only one or two (or 120) millionaires are doing it.

Let’s see what Andy Burnham decides. Whatever happens – you’ve got to hand it to Gary Lineker no matter what you think about his “wokeness” or whatever; the guy puts his money where his mouth is.

For the small-time influencer who married a billionaire and then demanded an Instagram user hand over their handle to her, click HERE.