‘Patriotic Millionaires’ with their battle bus in Westminster [Gokhan Goksoy-VR Agency]

BRIAN Eno joined fellow multi-millionaires outside the Houses of Parliament this week to demand more tax from the government.

The legendary musician was on a battle bus with the “Patriotic Millionaires” campaign on Tuesday. The wealthy group are calling on the government to introduce a two per cent tax on wealth above £10million.

This could raise £460million a week for our country’s finances, they say.

Mr Eno told the Extra: “I don’t like the thought that half of the population are struggling and I don’t think there’s any need that they should be struggling. There are plenty of people that are quite well off, like me, that would be happy to share their money a little bit more than they do.”

He added: “It’s obvious to me there’s a feedback loop involved in wealth where if you get a little bit rich you’re very likely to get richer. It works the other way round with poverty. There’s not the trickle-down theory that people used to believe in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Anti-war campaigner Mr Eno is celebrated for his ambient music and electronica and also produced music for artists including U2, Coldplay, Peter Gabriel and Damon Albarn.

A popular argument against taxing the mega-wealthy is that it would drive investors out of the United Kingdom.

Mr Eno said he doubted that would happen. “I don’t think that’s true. I think some people will leave as there are some people who are mean-minded, to the extent that they would rather live in some shit-hole country than pay an extra few thousand quid a year rent. So there are those people,” he said.

Brian Eno: ‘…it’s so small-minded to think that the only thing that matters is the number you have in the bank’

“Frankly I’d be bloody pleased if they f****d off and went and lived there – excuse my language – but rich people really piss me off a little bit because it’s so small-minded to think that the only thing that matters is the number you have in the bank.

“Don’t we love life because we love seeing everyone else enjoying it as well?”

Green industrialist Dale Vince, who was also on the bus, said he didn’t think the reforms would drive people away. He told the Extra: “Most people who live here like living here for a lot of reasons and it’s not because we’re a low-tax zone or something like that. I think if you don’t want to pay your fair share of taxes then you should go.”

He added that the tax they are calling on would have no impact on how they spend their lives day to day.

Mr Vince explained: “It can’t make a difference. If you’ve got 10 mil in the bank, property, whatever it is, and you have to pay 100,000 tax, what do you go without?

“I think there’s an imbalance in our tax system. The more money you have the less tax you pay. I think that’s wrong. We have extreme poverty in our country.

“Our tax system was written by rich people for rich people.”

This single tax reform would affect only 20,000 people, or 0.04 per cent of the British population, and would deliver huge investment potential. It’s more than enough to tackle the £22billion “black hole” the government says it inherited.

Julia Davies, an impact investor and entrepreneur, said: “Cuts are not the solution, they will only inflict more pain on people who have suffered years of austerity and hardship on top of creaking public services and infrastructure.

“The government can boost its budgets without taking a penny away from the public and vulnerable people, by increasing taxes on the super-rich.”

Seven out of 10 millionaires in the United Kingdom support higher taxes on the super-rich, the group said.