--- title: "120 UK Millionaires Ask Burnham to Tax Them More" description: "More than 120 wealthy Britons, among them the former footballer Gary Lineker, have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to raise taxes on the very rich, including a wealth tax. The government welcomed the letter but signaled no immediate change." category: "Business" category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/business author: "Marcus Reed" published: 2026-07-23T16:33:37.000Z updated: 2026-07-23T16:33:37.000Z canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/120-uk-millionaires-ask-burnham-to-tax-them-more tags: ["united-kingdom", "andy-burnham", "wealth-tax", "taxation", "inequality"] --- # 120 UK Millionaires Ask Burnham to Tax Them More More than 120 wealthy Britons, among them the former footballer Gary Lineker, have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to raise taxes on the very rich, including a wealth tax. The government welcomed the letter but signaled no immediate change. More than a hundred wealthy people in Britain have signed an open letter asking the new prime minister to tax them more heavily, [Al Jazeera reports](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/more-than-100-uk-millionaires-ask-new-pm-andy-burnham-to-tax-them-more). It is an unusual public intervention in a debate that Andy Burnham's government has said it is willing to have. ## What they are asking for The signatories are not simply expressing a sentiment; they are backing specific proposals. According to Al Jazeera, 120 millionaires signed the letter, which was organized by the campaign group Patriotic Millionaires and released on Thursday. Among the named signatories are the former footballer and broadcaster Gary Lineker and the actress Julia Davies. Their central ask is a wealth tax: specifically, a 2 percent annual levy on wealth above £10 million, which the group says could raise £24 billion a year, together with reforms to capital gains tax that it estimates could raise a further £12 billion. Al Jazeera notes an alternative version floated by some economists, a 2 percent minimum tax on assets above £100 million, which would raise a smaller sum, around £10 billion a year. The difference between those figures is itself part of the debate: how high to set the threshold, and how much a wealth tax would actually bring in, are contested questions. ## Why millionaires would ask to be taxed The obvious question is why wealthy people would campaign to pay more, and the letter answers it directly. "Paying your fair share is a basic British value," Lineker said, according to Al Jazeera, "but so many ordinary people are already paying more than they can afford." The group framed its message to Burnham bluntly: "As millionaires we have a clear message for you, our new Prime Minister: tax us. We are proud to pay and here to stay." That last phrase, "here to stay," is a deliberate rebuttal to the standard argument against wealth taxes, which is that the rich will simply leave. The signatories are asserting the opposite: that they will not flee higher taxes, and that they see contributing more as legitimate. It is worth noting this is a self-selected group of wealthy people who hold this view; it does not represent all high earners, many of whom oppose such taxes, and we report it as the position of those who signed. ## The government's response Burnham's government gave the letter a warm but non-committal reception. Al Jazeera reports that the Treasury's chief secretary, Emma Reynolds, welcomed the initiative but indicated there would be no immediate policy change, noting that major tax decisions are announced at budget events rather than in response to letters. That is the standard, careful way a government keeps its options open: acknowledge the pressure without being bound by it. The political context, however, makes the letter more than a gesture. As we have reported, Burnham took office promising to address the cost of living and inequality, and has signaled that his administration may look at additional taxes, potentially including on wealth. A public letter from millionaires asking to be taxed gives political cover to a government that may already be inclined to move in that direction. ## The wider argument For a global audience, this sits within a debate happening in many countries at once. Wealth taxes are contentious everywhere they are proposed. Supporters argue they are a fair way to fund public services and reduce inequality when wealth has concentrated at the top; opponents argue they are hard to administer, raise less than promised, and risk driving capital and people away. The Patriotic Millionaires letter is a striking entry in that argument precisely because it comes from the people such a tax would target. It does not settle the economic questions, which are real and disputed. But it removes one common objection, that the wealthy would never stand for it, at least on behalf of the 120 who signed, and it hands Burnham a moment to decide how far he wants to take a policy his government has already put on the table. ## Sources - [More than 100 UK millionaires ask new PM Andy Burnham to tax them more](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/more-than-100-uk-millionaires-ask-new-pm-andy-burnham-to-tax-them-more)