Nick Clegg wants to tax wealth. And there are good arguments for doing so, even if the practicalities mean that there is little chance of such a tax impacting on the current economic environment.
The question is, who would pay? The answer is in a recent Bank of England report (redrawn here by the New Statesman):
I think we can safely conclude 1% or less of the population would pay.
But they're the people Osborne rules for.
And that's the challenge we face to create a just society.
Hat tip: Pam Field
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
I think the right way to think about a wealth tax is primarily as a replacement for taxes on income and expenditure. Particularly if applied to assets that are primarily non-productive and static, then they could incentivise more efficient use of resources. I’ve written a bit about this here.
Wealth can be hidden, that’s the problem (except landed property, of course, which makes it the ideal wealth tax base). As Greg Philo has suggested, our entire deficit could be easily wiped out from a one-off tax on the wealthiest. If only we could access those darned offshore accounts….