Keir Starmer is under pressure to back a wealth tax to pay for social care after Andy Burnham joined calls for a firm Labour policy.
The Greater Manchester mayor, who first proposed a levy when he was health secretary more than a decade ago, said he would introduce "a range of wealth taxes - such as a higher rate of capital gains tax".
Mr Burnham - long touted for a future leadership bid - wrote in the London Evening Standard: “My advice to my party would be not to leave it too long before presenting [a plan].
“Criticism of the Tory plan alone won’t cut through unless we say what we would do.”
Calling for a 10% tax on inheritance - previously derided by the Tories as a ‘death tax’ - Mr Burnham added: “Just as the post-war period was defined by big, unifying Labour policies, I feel the same could be true for the post-pandemic era.
“It takes a major crisis for people to see clearly again how blame, division and hate don’t rebuild a nation.”
On Wednesday, Keir Starmer told Boris Johnson during PMQs : "His (plan is to impose unfair taxes on working people.
“My plan is to ensure those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share.”
Sir Keir has come under pressure from parts of his own party to spell out in detail exactly what that plan will comprise.
Left-wing Labour MP Richard Burgon has called for a wealth tax on all those with assets over £5million.
Allies of the leader insist he should not be bounced into announcing a firm plan now just because Boris Johnson has announced his own - flawed - plan to fix the crisis.
However, in an interview last night the Labour leader suggested he could impose a wealth tax to fix the crisis.
He said: “Those that earn their income from things other than work, should pay their fair share.”
Pressed, he added: “People who earn their money from property, dividends, stocks, shares – capital gains tax, these should all be looked at as a broader, fairer way of raising taxes.”
Asked if he favoured a wealth tax, he said: "Yes, all of those options are a wealth tax in the broadest sense of the word, and we should look at it."
