Windfall tax on banks might elevate £8bn a yr, Rachel Reeves informed as she seeks to plug Funds black gap

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Your assist makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Rachel Reeves ought to tax financial institution earnings to recuperate taxpayer cash spent on compensating losses from the Financial institution of England’s cash-printing drive, a assume tank has mentioned.

Mountaineering a levy on the windfalls from main corporations resembling Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest might elevate as much as £8 billion a yr for public companies, in response to a report by the Institute for Public Coverage Analysis.

The assume tank argues the UK is a world outlier in having its Treasury pay for central Financial institution losses on its bond-buying quantitative easing (QE) programme.

After a interval of creating earnings on this programme, the Financial institution of England is dealing with document losses, estimated to value the taxpayer £22 billion a yr, as rates of interest have risen since 2021, it warned.

This cash is then partly being funnelled to financial institution shareholders because of a “flawed” coverage design, boosting earnings whereas tens of millions throughout Britain proceed to face cost-of-living pressures, the report says.

It recommends the Treasury introduce a “QE reserves earnings levy”, much like the two.5 per cent deposit tax imposed on banks below Margaret Thatcher in 1981, to rebalance the prevailing set-up.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/07/16/9a0feab2b0525ffc052bb88e0d6182a1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzU0NjY2MDE5-2.81206823.jpg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/07/16/9a0feab2b0525ffc052bb88e0d6182a1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzU0NjY2MDE5-2.81206823.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/07/16/9a0feab2b0525ffc052bb88e0d6182a1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzU0NjY2MDE5-2.81206823.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

Governor of the Financial institution of England, Andrew Bailey (Jordan Pettitt/PA) The main assume tank, which labored carefully with the federal government on its industrial technique, additionally calls on the Financial institution of England to decelerate its sale of bonds – so-called quantitative tightening (QT) – to avoid wasting greater than £12 billion a yr.

These two insurance policies collectively might save greater than £100 billion over this Parliament, opening up a lot wanted fiscal headroom for the Chancellor, it says.

Beneath the proposals, the receipts from the banks levy could be used to assist “households and development” and would fall to zero as soon as all QE-related gilts are off the Financial institution of England’s steadiness sheet, or when the financial institution price reaches 2 per cent, that means the tax could be short-term.

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Given the “focused” nature of the tax, it ought to solely have a “small influence, if any” on UK banks’ competitiveness and smaller banks needs to be exempted from the measure, the assume tank mentioned.

It comes amid warnings from economists that tax rises within the autumn price range are possible wanted to plug a gap within the public funds, prompting hypothesis about which areas the Chancellor would possibly goal.

The Treasury has been contacted for remark.

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The Chancellor is trying to find methods to lift money forward of the autumn price range (PA Wire) Carsten Jung, affiliate director for financial coverage at IPPR and former Financial institution of England economist, mentioned: “The Financial institution of England and Treasury bungled the implementation of quantitative easing.

“What began as a programme to spice up the financial system is now a large drain on taxpayer cash.

“Whereas households wrestle with rising prices, the federal government is successfully writing multi-billion-pound cheques to financial institution shareholders.

“A focused levy, impressed by Margaret Thatcher’s personal method within the Eighties, would recoup a few of these windfalls and put the cash to much better use – serving to individuals and the financial system, not simply financial institution steadiness sheets.”

UK Finance criticised the proposals, arguing {that a} additional tax on banks would make Britain much less internationally aggressive.

“Banks primarily based right here already pay each an organization tax surcharge and a financial institution levy,” the commerce affiliation mentioned.

Including one other would “run counter to the federal government’s purpose of supporting the monetary companies sector to assist drive development and funding within the wider financial system,” it mentioned.