Hi ,

The power of simply calling your terrible idea the "good idea plan" has rarely been more clear than Reform's proposal to give billionaires a £35bn tax handout. The proposal would let the world's richest pay a one-off fee of £250,000 for residency and an exemption from paying taxes on overseas earnings or inheritance tax for 10 years.

Why do this? Reform claim that the richest are leaving the UK, and this plan would fix that. The idea of selling residency and tax permits is often referred to as a "golden passport." I raise this because funnily enough, the company that originally came up with the debunked claim that the richest are leaving the UK are a company that sells golden passports and advises governments on how to create golden passport schemes. 

In all, a terrible idea. But because Reform UK described it as a "Robin Hood" scheme in their press release, almost every headline about the proposal calls it Reform's Robin Hood plan. Turns out, comms is actually very easy. 

But since we're discussing plans to reform our tax and redistribution systems, what could the UK do instead?

• The campaigns for wealth taxes around the world have grown louder and louder. Internationally, Brazil coordinated dozens of other countries to force a global tax on the super rich onto the G20 agenda; in France, the National Assembly has passed multiple resolutions demanding wealth taxes. Spain's small-scale reintroduction of wealth taxes helped them raise £1.54 billion in one year just by taxing large fortunes; money that has been used to cap energy bills and raise wages.
  
  
• In Mexico, staggering income inequalities have been reduced over the last decade (bucking the global trend) at the same time as record poverty reductions. How? A programme that introduced worker rights and hiked the minimum wage led to overall wages growing by 32.6%, hugely faster than inflation. An ambitious plan to build social homes has begun in cities with housing shortages, universal benefits introduced, and infrastructure built using local labour and materials in a community wealth building effort. Across much of Latin America, similar policies have reduced inequality (from very high levels) over the last decade.
  
  
• France built 1.8m social homes between 2001 and 2019; in the UK, we built just 385,547 over the same period (and the overwhelming majority of that before 2010). The resources given to housing in France has allowed incredible care to be put into building safe, affordable, eco-friendly communities woven throughout cities. Global architectural awards go to French social housing projects while much less of the population struggle with housing costs compared to the UK.
  
  
• Successful trials of participatory budgeting in South America, New York City, and Scotland allocated money and increased trust, empathy, and social development. Citizens' Assemblies can help solve intractable issues, while Community Reporting and storytelling gives people the ability to highlight the issues they think matter to their community in their own words, and make their own demands unfiltered by institutions.

All these things are already happening; we could adopt them across the UK. We could implement our manifesto for a more equal society right now if politicians chose to do it – and successes like Zohran Mamdani's campaign for a more equal New York City show they can be winning platforms. We can win here too!

Nearly 300 of you have donated to help fund our work this year, and we're so grateful for that support. 

With your help, the wins we've been talking about feel closer than they have for decades: MPs are rebelling against austerity and backing wealth taxes, people are rising up against the privatisation of our essential services, and communities are organising against inequality. 

That's why we're asking if you can chip in to help support us this month. We need deep, systemic change to change this country and that's a long project. But, unlike other groups, we haven't got millionaire backers.

Please don’t worry if you can’t make a donation – we understand that there are a host of reasons why people can’t support us financially. We still appreciate your support, however you give it.

Plus: are there ideas in other countries the UK should adopt?

Thanks to everyone who votes! The results will be reported next week.

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