英国拟在10月28日预算中上调银行附加税至8%，银行业游说警告将拖累放贷与经济

The UK’s banking industry has ramped up lobbying against extra taxes planned by Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey, warning that a hike could shrink economic output by £6 billion ($8 billion) over five years and hit areas outside London the hardest.

Pushing a surcharge banks pay on top of a standard corporation tax to 8% from 3% would also cut lending by about £10 billion by 2029 and reduce investment into the UK, according to a letter sent earlier this week to Healey by David Postings, chief of industry lobby group UK Finance.

Healey will likely increase the bank surcharge in his Oct. 28 budget, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, confirming an earlier report by the Guardian newspaper. The move is aimed at funding cost-of-living support for voters and stabilizing public finances.

Read More: Healey Plans to Raise UK Taxes on Banks at Budget This Month

Postings said he was copying the letter, seen by Bloomberg News, to Prime Minister Andy Burnham because of the potential damage the measure would have on the government’s ambition to deliver growth in every postcode.

Healey has submitted the potential measure alongside others to the Office for Budget Responsibility for assessment, Bloomberg News has reported.

There has been increasing speculation about what form an extra bank tax could take. UK Finance based its assessment on a potential increase in surcharge the sector pays to 8%, in what would be a reversal of a tax cut by former chancellor Jeremy Hunt in 2023.

Industry figures have also fretted that Healey could impose a one-off windfall tax on domestic lenders, sparing international banks that could otherwise move some of their large UK-based operations elsewhere.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a Bloomberg TV interview last week that imposing a windfall tax solely on British lenders and exempting international banks would be unfair. However, earlier this year Dimon warned the bank could reconsider plans for its new headquarters in London if the UK becomes “hostile” to lenders again.

Read More: Dimon Says JPMorgan Would Scrap UK HQ Over Higher Bank Taxes

Increasing the surcharge to 8% would raise £2 billion, but that benefit would be outweighed by the reduction in lending, investment by banks and job creation, UK Finance said.

Over 10 years, bank lending capacity would be around £17.5 billion lower than it would otherwise be and approximately 4,230 financial services roles that would exist would be lost, with two-thirds of them outside London, the analysis showed.

But as Healey searches for revenue raising measures to shore up the UK’s finances and to pay for public spending, he is being lobbied by others to target the banks, which have made bumper profits in recent quarters.

The left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research think tank and Positive Money, which campaigns against inequality, are calling on Healey to raise bank taxes to help reduce costs for households and small businesses.