Sadiq Khan dodges Zack Polanski’s wealth tax question

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan just dodged a wealth tax question from Green Party leader Zack Polanski, but agreed that the two-child benefit cap is wrong.

At London’s Mayor’s Question Time on 20 November, Polanski asked Khan to clarify his position on the two-child benefit cap. And while Khan said he disagreed with the measure, he echoed government propaganda that it’s not affordable right now to scrap it. Polanski then pushed him on that point, asking if the mayor would support a wealth tax to fund scrapping the benefit cap.

Kids in poverty can’t afford to wait for action from Labour

Polanski noted that:

one in three children are growing up in poverty in London – that’s half a million children

And he asked Khan if he would join him in “saying scrap this two-child benefit cap”.

Khan answered:

I voted against the Labour whip in 2015 and I have been calling on the Chancellor to scrap the two-child benefit cap. As I’ve said for some time, I appreciate the inheritance but as soon as feasible it’s important that the government do so.

Polanski pushed Khan further, insisting:

we could have a wealth tax on assets, equalise capital gains tax in line with income tax and put… national insurance on investment income

He added that lifting the cap could “take 55,000 people out of poverty”.

While Khan again called the cap “a huge issue”, he avoided calling for taxes on the super-rich to solve it.

After the exchange, Polanski tweeted that this was an example of “Labour always supporting the 1%“.

Let’s make different choices, for the 99%!

Labour is crumbling for a reason. The government’s disinterest in justice is clear from its insistence on making ‘difficult decisions’ for the 99% but no such decisions for the 1%. And ahead of its upcoming budget, Polanski’s Greens have been pushing it from the left with a simple message:

Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.

And the Green leader is clear that the way things are today isn’t because ‘there’s not enough money’. Instead, it’s because establishment parties like the Tories and Labour have chosen to keep things the way they are. They don’t have to. They just choose to.

With that in mind, Polanski has stressed that:

It’s time to make tough choices for multimillionaires and billionaires.

As he told the Canary previously:

there are people in the country earning more money while they sleep than any of us could earn no matter how hard we worked.

And we need to:

fundamentally change the relationship between wealth and power and the 99% in our society.

People across Britain are increasingly agreeing on that, making the Greens the main challenger to Reform. The weak words of people like Khan won’t cut it anymore. We need a bold plan that puts ordinary people first. And Polanski has exactly that.

Featured image via the Canary