Gary Stevenson on why the rich MUST PAY MORE
7/6/202647 min
How far would an Andy Burnham government be willing to go to tackle inequality? In this episode of The Fourcast, economist and activist Gary Stevenon told us that the incoming prime minister will “fail” unless he is willing to properly tax wealth.
A former trader who made millions in the City, Gary Stevenson has gained a huge online following as one of the left’s foremost campaigners against inequality.
He spoke with Krishnan Guru-Murthy about his new Channel 4 documentary ‘How to Get Filthy Rich’ and told us whether he would be willing to work with a future Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsGary Stevenson· Guest0:00
If we don't get wealth taxes or some serious movement on wealth taxes from Burnham when he comes in, uh, he will lose the next election. If he doesn't, it will be Farage. Uh, Farage will come in, he will cut taxes on the super-rich, uh, living standards will fall. I'm not Karl Marx here. I'm not saying, like, seize the means of production. I'm saying can we just stop this situation where working people pay 50% and billionaires pay 0%? And so don't tell me if we try to tax them, the country's finished.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy· Host0:25
You're getting emotional thinking about it.
Gary Stevenson· Guest0:26
Well, you know, like, it's my country, Krish.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy· Host0:28
You know, Andy Burnham, if he gets to watch a clip of this, what's your, what's your message to him? Hello, and welcome to The Forecast. It's a welcome back to my guest today, because Gary Stevenson is perhaps one of the most well-known advocates now for a wealth tax in Britain. He, of course, is the man who was a former Citibank trader, who then wrote a book about everything he thought was wrong with our economic system and why we need to tax the rich, uh, more and to tax wealth. He has obviously gone massive on social media. Gary's Economics is a huge YouTube channel in which people watch his thoughts on politics, economics, and everything else in between. And now Gary's done a documentary for Channel 4 called How to Get Filthy Rich With Gary Stevenson, which is going out on Channel 4 this week on Wednesday, but you'll be able to see it on the Channel 4 streaming platform and on YouTube in a few days' time, in which he