Buy back better: The case for raising taxes on dividends and buybacks

Article

Households are experiencing a real-terms income squeeze while some of Britain’s largest companies transfer profits to their shareholders at record levels.

Taxes on shareholder transfers should be raised to ensure that companies are not channelling profits to their shareholders at a time of national economic crisis.

This briefing paper argues that the UK government can raise revenues by increasing taxes on dividends and buybacks. This is one mechanism which will allow the government to extend support for households and businesses through the cost of living crisis without resorting to public service cuts. The government should be prioritising progressive revenue-raisers which address growing wealth inequality, rather than turning back to the austerity cuts of the past.

This briefing is published in collaboration with Common Wealth as part of our programme of work exploring profits and corporate power post-pandemic.

Related items

  1. Townhouses beside the railway on the viaduct with a running train in Durham, UK

    On track to prosperity: Great Northern Rail

    It’s time the North saw real change for better transport, delivering prosperity and better lives: a long-term plan for Great Northern Rail
  2. Union Jack flag and the Stars and Stripes flag of the USA, fluttering together in front of Big Ben in Westminster

    It's the cost of living, stupid: Why progressives lose and win

    UK households are impatient for change. Trust in our political system is low and that’s reflected in scepticism across the board that government can make things better. 

  3. Getting the child poverty strategy we need: A co-produced agenda for change

    The UK government has a time-limited opportunity to make a decisive difference to child poverty in its upcoming strategy.