Should John Healey introduce a wealth tax in the Budget? Take our poll and have your say

Should John Healey introduce a wealth tax in the Budget? Take our poll and have your say Unions and campaign groups have told John Healey it could help transform public services, and IPPR think tank research said it could help fund an extra 130,000 care workers and five million emergency payments to vulnerable households The Chancellor is facing growing calls to introduce a wealth tax at next week's Budget would be a big mistake. Unions and campaign groups have told John Healey it could help transform public services, and IPPR think tank research said it could help fund an extra 130,000 care workers and five million emergency payments to vulnerable households. Speaking to The Mirror this week, Andrea Egan, the General Secretary of Unison union, which represents over 1.3million workers, said the message from the public in recent polling was clear: "It's time to tax the rich". Ms Egan said Labour affiliated union general secretaries had given a clear message during recent meetings with the PM and Mr Healey: "You cannot take any more money from working people. They have paid the price for the bankers' crash in 2008. They've paid decades on this chosen austerity programme. "And what we've not seen, and what needs to happen, is the direction turns and they start to tax those that can afford it. So, you know, the wealthy, they can start taxing the banks, they can get some capital gains. It will be a mistake if they do not do that." Earlier this year more than 100 UK-based millionaires - including former Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker - signed a letter urging new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to tax their wealth. Organised by the group Patriotic Millionaires UK, the letter called for higher taxes not on everyday workers, but on the very richest in the UK. Mr Burnham has previously suggested he backed a wealth tax, and recently claimed his government may have “to ask for a little more” from the richest. Patriotic Millionaires, along with the group Tax Justice UK are proposing an annual 2% tax on wealth above £10million. Tax Justice UK says it would affect around 20,000 people in the UK – fewer than 0.04% of the population. While the Treasury is said to preparing to hike a levy on the big banks' bumper profits, an increase in capital gains appears to have been ruled out at next week's Budget. Several prominent Labour figures, including the Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, previously called for a rise in the levy, which applies to the profit made from selling off assets like a house or shares. Critics have claimed a wealth tax would lead to an exodus of wealthy people and last month the BBC reported hedge-fund billionaire Chris Rokos - one of the UK's richest taxpayers - had decided to leave the country for Greece.