A majority of the public support higher taxes on the wealthy, a new poll has found.

Research carried out by Tax Justice UK and Oxfam found more than two-thirds (69%) of those polled thought that earnings from wealth should be taxed at the same level as, or more heavily than, earnings from income.

And 52% support a new tax on wealth over about £750,000. Oxfam has estimated that applying this model in the UK could raise around £10 billion a year which could be used to fight poverty at home and overseas.

Boris Johnson pledged to lift the threshold for the top rate of income tax to £80,000, slashing tax rates for the top 8% of earners.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned yesterday that cutting taxes for the rich in this way would cost the Treasury about £8 billion a year.

Oxfam’s Head of Inequality Campaigns, Rebecca Gowland, said: “At a time when millions in the UK are struggling to escape poverty and when more money is needed to protect people from climate change, the government needs to ask itself whether it can afford to ignore such a popular and untapped source of revenue.”

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