Most Labour and Green voters think they can
Key takeaways
- By 42% to 35%, Britons think the UK’s financial issues can realistically be fixed without raising the taxes that ordinary people pay
- Britons are split 41-43% on whether or not the public finances and public services can be fixed solely by increasing taxes on the rich
- Most Labour and Green voters say taxing the rich is all that is necessary
- Most Britons think we would raise more money increasing tax on the super-rich than think we would lose money – and even if it lost money, a plurality would rather increase these taxes regardless
- Britons think public service spending is too low, but still typically do not want to raise taxes on ordinary people in order to provide more funding
- Public are more likely to cite poor management and bad government policy as the biggest issues facing public services than a lack of funding
Labour now seem to have backed down from breaking their manifesto pledge not to raise income tax in the face of strong public opposition – recent YouGov research showed that 65% of Britons were opposed to the measure, and 69% considered it to be a breach of the party’s election pledge.
This leaves Labour with limited options for how it can raise money to fill their fiscal black hole. YouGov research has consistently shown the public are most likely to support revenue-raising measures targeted at the rich – while rejecting those measures that might hit them in their own pockets.
But to what extent does this reflect the popularity of policies in isolation, rather than a public belief that solely targeting the rich while shielding everyone else is a realistic approach to government spending?
The results of a new YouGov survey show that by a narrow margin Britons think it is realistically possible to solve the issues faced by the UK public finances and public services without raising the taxes that ordinary people pay. Slightly more than four in ten (42%) feel this way, compared to 35% who consider the premise unrealistic.
Reform voters in particular are likely to think that tax increases on ordinary people aren’t necessary for fixing the public finances and public services (56%), compared to 42-44% of Labour, Tory and Green voters, and 31% of Lib Dems.
When it comes to the prospect that taxing the rich alone is enough to cure the state’s ills, the public are divided: 41% think this is a realistic prospect, while 43% disagree.
The majority of 2024 Green (65%) and Labour voters (54%) do, however, believe taxing the rich alone would be sufficiently to sort out the country.
And, when it comes to taxing the rich AND businesses, the balance tips slightly more in favour of perceived plausibility, with 43% seeing this as a realistic way to fix the public finances and public services, while 38% disagree.
However, Britons are doubtful that the situation can be fixed solely by increasing taxes on businesses alone (20%).
Away from tax options, few (10%) think that increasing government borrowing alone has a realistic prospect of raising enough money to right public services.
Britons tend to back taxing the super-rich, even if this loses revenue overall
While previous polling has shown that the public are overwhelmingly in favour of increasing taxes on the super-rich, there is a perennial debate over whether such tax rises actually lose more money than they raise. Some claim that such a move would cause the super-rich to up sticks and leave the UK, taking their taxable income with them.
Most Britons are sceptical of claims that lower tax rates on the super-rich counterintuitively bring in more money, however – 55% think that more revenue would be generated by increasing taxes on the super-rich, compared to only 17% who think more would be made by cutting taxes on the wealthiest citizens.
Ultimately, however, this may be beside the point for many Britons. When explicitly asked what their preference would be if raising taxes on the super-rich definitely would reduce revenue to the exchequer, 44% of Britons would still support imposing such tax increases, outnumbering the 34% who would be opposed.
How badly do the public want to give more money to public services?
There is clearly an appetite for increasing public spending: 72% of Britons see public services as being in a bad state, while a separate YouGov survey in late September showed that 56% thought the government was spending too little on services.
But equally there are many who don’t want to have to personally pay for greater public service spending. That same September survey also showed that, if the government needed to balance the books at the budget, 44% would rather they did so by reducing spending, and a further 12% by increasing borrowing – only 23% backed increasing taxes.
Our more recent November polling shows that when asked a question that paired the two factors, the public are split between 32% who want higher taxes and more funding for public services, and 30% who would rather stick to current tax levels and public service funding remaining as it is – a further 18% want lower taxes and less funding for public services.
Aside from their manifesto promise, part of the issue for the government when considering raising taxes on ordinary people is the fact that the public already feel themselves to be highly taxed. More than six in ten Britons (63%) say that the level of tax ordinary people in the UK pay is high, including 19% who say it is “very high”, with our September poll having shown 50% believed taxes are “too high” and just 22% believing them to be “about right”.
Alongside further negative financial perceptions among the public – 84% say prices are rising faster than their income, and 46% expect their financial situation to be worse off a year from now – it is no surprise that many are unwilling to voluntarily endorse tax rises.
Is a lack of funding the biggest problem facing public services?
While the data shows that the public think more should be spent on public services, do they think a lack of funding is responsible for the biggest problems facing the public sector?
Given a list of ten potential issues and asked to pick the three biggest causes of problems facing public services, 30% of Britons choose “not enough funding”. This represents a four point drop since last year, putting it effectively level with “privatisation and outsourcing” on 31%.
By far the most commonly chosen factor is “poor management / leadership within public services”, which 51% of the public put on their list – largely the same level as last year.
In second place is “bad government policy”, up seven points to 40%, with Brexit also seeing a sizeable eight point increase from 18% to 26%.
For those who voted Labour and Lib Dem at the last election, similar numbers (39-43%) give poor management, privatisation, funding, and Brexit as top reasons for the issues facing public services.
Greens are most likely to say that privatisation (58%) is a top issue, while also being the most likely to say the same of funding levels (46%) compared to other parties.
For their part, Conservative and Reform voters predominately blame poor management within the public services (65-69%), and are also more likely to say bad government policy is a top issue (47-52%). They are notably less likely to see funding as a major problem (14-18%).
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Photo: Getty
