# Millionaires including Gary Lineker urge Burnham to raise wealth taxes

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/gary-lineker-leads-british-millionaires-telling-burnham-we-want-to-pay-more-tax/
- Published: 2026-07-22T23:12:11+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-23T05:32:23+00:00
- Original publisher: The Independent (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gary-lineker-millionares-wealth-tax-andy-burnham-b3019509.html
- Topics: Entertainment, Government, Politics, TV, UK, World

## Key points

- Over 100 millionaires, led by Gary Lineker, urged Burnham to tax wealth more
- Group proposed a 2% levy on wealth over £10m, raising an estimated £24bn yearly
- Comes amid Labour dispute over funding Burnham's cost-of-living policies

## Summary

Gary Lineker has joined more than 100 UK-based millionaires in signing an open letter urging new prime minister Andy Burnham to increase taxes on wealth, arguing that the country's richest people can afford to pay more. The letter, organised by campaign group Patriotic Millionaires UK, came as Burnham looked to fund a series of early cost-of-living policies and had previously left the door open to a wealth tax, telling Lineker his government may "ask for a little more" from the wealthy.

Signatories included screenwriter Richard Curtis, novelist Val McDermid and former City trader Gary Stevenson, alongside Lineker, who said "paying your fair share is a basic British value". The group specifically called for a 2 per cent levy on wealth over £10m, which they said could raise £24bn a year, stressing this should target unearned wealth rather than working income. The intervention followed a Labour row over how Burnham's early measures, including a £2 bus fare cap and an £850m electricity bill tax cut, would be funded, with critics including Sir Mel Stride questioning whether the government's spending commitments were properly costed.

## Coverage

- [The Independent: Millionaires including Gary Lineker urge Burnham to raise wealth taxes](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gary-lineker-millionares-wealth-tax-andy-burnham-b3019509.html)
- [Daily Mail: Good news, Andy! Gary Lineker and 120 other British millionaires tell the new Prime Minister they actually want to pay more tax on their wealth](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15997325/Good-news-Andy-Gary-Lineker-120-British-millionaires-tell-new-Prime-Minister-actually-want-pay-tax-wealth.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.