John Healey poised to raise taxes on banks in budget
Apparently the Chancellor wants to reverse a cut to a surcharge that banks pay on their profits, on top of normal corporation tax. The surcharge was 8%, then Jeremy Hunt cut it to 3%, so Healey apparently might set it back to 8%.
[Healey is] believed to be minded to increase the surcharge banks pay on their profits, over and above corporation tax. Industry figures believe that will probably mean raising the surcharge back to 8%, from 3% at present.
Thoughts?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/15/john-healey-raise-taxes-banks-budgetOpen linkView original on piefed.social
7 replies
Someone's going to try and point out that banks will leave investment out of the UK . Which holds as much water as a chocolate teacup in the Sahara.
Banks will manage their profits so the bare minimum goes to the tax man as they always do.
They will do this through various schemes that are legal in the UK and largely not legal elsewhere.
why would bank taxes be taxed higher than other corporate profits?
Presumably because of the amount of profit they are making.
Apparently HSBC made £14 billion profit in 2026: https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/hsbc-profit-shares-bank-tax-b3027061.html
My quick maths suggests they'll pay an extra £700 million in tax. So they would still clear over £13 billion in profit!
so its the highest profit corpos? I mean I know banks make a lot of (pardon the pun) bank, but so do many companies. I was thinking maybe its because they can't really leave.
yeah a bank could stop operating but it means no access to uk money. like other corps could theoretically leave and sell products to somewhere where it ultimately gets to the uk. I guess relistically though they all face that but I was thinking banks are a bit more stuck.
Thoughts? You want some deep analysis beyond "good"?