Bare Barrel

Who is lobbying to raise taxes in the UK? (Part 2)

Who are its five biggest funders?

Tax Justice UK primarily receives its funding from a relatively small number of progressive trusts and foundations through project-specific or core grants, supplemented by smaller donations from individual members of the public. It does not rely on large corporate or government funding (beyond occasional small schemes like furlough support in the past). The organization publishes a funders page listing supporters and names any individual donors giving £5,000 or more in a financial year in its annual accounts.

Current Major Foundation Funders (as listed on their official funders page)

These are the active or recently active trusts and foundations providing grants:

• Thirty Percy: Provided the largest recent single grant mentioned — £400,000 in flexible core funding for campaigns (2024–2028), plus an additional £40,000 for strategy work. This stands out as one of the biggest individual commitments in recent years.
• The Joffe Trust: £105,000 over three years (2024–2027) for work on dirty money and tax avoidance.
• Friends Provident Foundation: £84,400 over two years (2024–2026) for core campaign support. (It has provided recurring support in prior years, e.g., around £84,000 in 2021/22.)
• Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust: £90,000 over three years (starting 2021) for corporate tax accountability, extended with £33,000 for 2024–2025.
• Gower Street: £60,000 over two years (2024–2026) for climate and tax work.
• Luminate: $110,000 (approx. £85,000–90,000 at historical rates) in 2022 for advocacy on tax justice, reform, and transparency. (Additional amounts appeared in earlier accounts, e.g., £46k–£67k in 2022/23 periods.)
• Funding for Social Change: Smaller grant of £18,173 (2024–2025) for wealth taxation work.

Previous or one-off supporters have included Trust for London (e.g., £40k–£64k in accounts), Lankelly Chase (£50k), Barrow Cadbury Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Solberga Foundation, and others.

Individual Donors

Public donations form a meaningful but secondary part of income. In the extended year July 2022–December 2023, these totaled £193,390. Named high-value individuals in older accounts (e.g., year to June 2022) included:

• Doro Marden (£35,000)
• Smaller amounts from others like Kristina Johansson and Julia Davis (£6,000 each)

The group commits to publishing names of anyone donating £5,000+ in a given year.

Overall Funding Scale and Structure

• Total income has been modest: e.g., ~£439k in the year to June 2022 (with ~£329k from grants and £106k from donations).
• Grants from trusts/foundations typically make up the majority (often 70–80% in reported periods), focused on restricted (project-specific) or core/unrestricted support.
• No single "billionaire" or corporate backer dominates; funding is diversified across philanthropic foundations aligned with social justice, inequality reduction, and progressive causes. Exact "top five by total historical contribution" isn't ranked publicly, but based on disclosed grants, the largest recent or recurring ones are Thirty Percy, Joffe Trust, Friends Provident Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, and Luminate / Trust for London.

For the most precise and up-to-date figures, check their latest Companies House accounts (company number 10761736) or the funders page, as grant cycles vary and some details (e.g., exact multi-year totals) are spread across reports. The organization emphasizes transparency on its site while noting that much of its work is grant-dependent.

Kiwi Aquabatics

Who is lobbying to raise taxes in the UK? (Part 1)

What is Tax Justice UK?

Tax Justice UK is a UK-based campaigning and advocacy organization that pushes for progressive tax reform. Its core mission is to create a "fair and effective tax system" that ensures everyone in the UK benefits, primarily by raising significantly more revenue from the wealthiest individuals and closing loopholes to fund public services and reduce inequality.

Key Goals and Activities

• Focus on wealth taxation: It prominently campaigns for new or increased taxes on the super-rich, such as a proposed 2% wealth tax on individuals with assets over £10 million (affecting roughly the top 0.04% of the population). It also advocates closing loopholes, reforming council tax/business rates, and other measures to generate tens of billions annually for public services like the NHS, education, and social care.
• Broader agenda: It promotes higher taxes on high incomes, corporations, and wealth (e.g., inheritance tax, capital gains), while opposing what it sees as under-taxation of the rich that exacerbates inequality. It also links tax policy to issues like the climate crisis.
• Methods: The group engages in public campaigning, petitions, media work, research-backed proposals (e.g., "Ten tax reforms to raise over £50–60 billion"), building coalitions with other organizations, and lobbying policymakers. It describes itself as non-partisan but clearly left-leaning in its emphasis on redistribution.

Its slogan and homepage messaging emphasize: "We’re fighting for fairer taxes that take more from the super-rich – and reverse inequality in the UK."

Origins and Structure

Tax Justice UK was incubated by the Tax Justice Network (an international advocacy group focused on tax havens, corporate avoidance, and global financial transparency) and became an independent organization around 2017. It is a separate entity from the global Tax Justice Network (which has a broader international remit) but shares similar ideological roots and sometimes collaborates.

It is registered as a company in the UK (TAX JUSTICE UK, company number 10761736) and operates as a campaigning NGO. Funding comes from donations (it actively solicits regular and one-off contributions from the public), grants from foundations (e.g., Trust for London), and other supporters aligned with progressive causes.

Context and Perspective

The group frames the UK's current tax system as failing to raise enough revenue for essential services while allowing extreme wealth to go undertaxed. Critics of such organizations often argue that their proposals risk capital flight ("millionaire exodus"), disincentivize investment, or overlook existing high effective tax burdens on high earners—though Tax Justice UK and allies have published research pushing back on exodus claims.

In summary, Tax Justice UK is an activist group dedicated to shifting UK tax policy leftward toward greater redistribution through higher wealth and top-end taxes. Its website (taxjustice.uk) provides detailed policy proposals, campaign updates, and ways to get involved or donate. It is distinct from but related to the international Tax Justice Network.

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