It is a double dose of video from me this morning.
This is the talk I gave at Keele World Affairs recently. The Q&A was longer than the talk:
The actual video is available here.
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Thanx – something to dip into over Christmas – that hall is where I took my son to visit Keele back in the day – he ended up at the University of Sheffield but I would have been just as happy to see him here.
Maybe slightly amusing? After my second year at university, I cleaned parts of the Keele campus as my parents live about 10 minutes walk away from what was then a much smaller establishment. I was assigned to cleaning halls of residence because the Open University students were there for a two week “study” period. From the detritus in many rooms (use your imagination – but with care!) it was clear some of those students packed a whole two years of university “high life” into those two weeks …
Go well Richard. Take time out, enjoy family and may you all have a merry Christmas and come to 2026 refreshed.
It was, I gather called the Kremlin on the Hill back then….
Good one Richard.
Is this the start of your Repetition, Repetition, Repetition on The Money Tour? I believe you will make more cut through with the layperson by speaking to them as you did at Keele. Plain language, free of jargon and economese is a winner with personally relatable stories that resonate with audience experiences. More strength to your arm.
Thanks
I saw a video from Robert Reich tonight which states that wealth taxes are now a necessity, as the ultra-rich use borrowing against their assets to pay for their ‘lifestyles’ and manage their finances in order to have very little income from taxable sources, whilst maintaining an enormous income thru this technique. How should governments counter this technique by tge rich for avoiding their responsibilities to society?
Robert Reich is right about the mechanism, and it has become central to modern tax avoidance at the top. This is undeniable.
The ultra-rich increasingly live not off taxable income but off asset-backed borrowing. They hold appreciating assets – shares, property, private equity – and borrow against them to fund consumption. Because loans are not income, little or no tax is due. The asset continues to rise in value, the debt is rolled over, and on death the liability is often settled against the estate with capital gains either deferred or wiped out. The result is a high-consumption lifestyle with minimal tax.
There are effective ways to counter this.
First, tax wealth directly. If returns are being enjoyed without realisation, the tax base has to move from flows (income) to stocks (wealth). Regular wealth taxes, properly enforced, deal with this directly. As you know, I suggest taxing income and gains more first, but I have never ruled out moving on to this.
Second, treat asset-backed borrowing as a taxable event above a threshold. If loans are systematically used as income substitutes, they should be taxed as such, at least where borrowing exceeds normal business or household use. This is technically possible.
Third, end preferential treatment of capital gains. Taxing gains at income tax rates and removing step-up at death closes one of the main escape routes.
Fourth, strengthen inheritance and gift taxes. Much of this strategy relies on inter-generational transfer. Effective estate taxation breaks the loop.
Finally, limit interest deductibility and tighten financial disclosure so that borrowing structures cannot be used to disguise consumption.
None of this is radical. It is a response to behaviour. When the richest organise their finances to avoid tax while drawing heavily on social infrastructure, the tax system must adapt. Otherwise taxation ceases to be progressive in any meaningful sense, and democratic consent for it erodes.
Listened with interest. I did not know of this organisation, despite attending the institution many years ago. I may listen to some more talks over the winter.
I listened to the whole talk and thoroughly enjoyed it, not least because I understood it all, which I could not have said a year ago. Repetition, for me at least, is certainly the key. Thank you so much for all you are doing. I, for one, really appreciate it. I hope you have a lovely relaxing Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family. Let’s hope that the breakthrough is coming soon.
Thank you. Appreciated.
I eventually got round to listening to your talk and the Q and A session that followed. Very enjoyable and I agreed with everything you put forward. Thanks.
Thanks