{
  "id": 16316091,
  "title": "Is London really the most-taxed city? Banks accused of cherrypicking data",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/is-london-really-the-most-taxed-city-banks-accused-of-cherrypicking",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-24T11:00:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/24/banking-lobby-group-accused-cherry-picking-data-healey-tax-rise"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "UK Finance, a banking lobby group, has been accused of selectively including data to mislead the British government according to campaigners. The lobby group's annual report, which lists London as the most tax-intensive city for banks with a \"total tax rate\" of 46.2%, has been challenged by groups such as the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Positive Money. The TUC argues that Paris, a rival financial hub, should be included in these comparisons as it could charge up to 11.1 percentage points more in taxes, with a rate of between 51.6% and 57.3%. The TUC's Paul Nowak said the omission of Paris is \"cynical\" and attempts to make a \"misleading case against fair taxes\". The lobby group claimed it could not produce a \"robust like-for-like figure\" using the model bank, but campaigners believe this is a deliberate move to protect the financial sector.",
  "summary": "Lobby group’s figures, shared with John Healey, are misleading as they do not include major rival Paris, say campaigners A banking lobby group has been accused of cherrypicking data and trying to mislead the British government by claiming a tax rise for banks at next week’s budget would leave London less competitive than rival financial hubs. UK Finance, which represents banks including Lloyds,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}