According to the BBC this morning:
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has proposed introducing a wealth tax as part of his pitch for the Labour leadership, by equalising capital gains tax with income tax.
Streeting called for a "wealth tax that works" and said he estimated the reform could raise £12bn a year.
Now, where did Wes Streeting get this idea from? And where, come to that, did his estimate of the tax that it might raise come from?
It so happens that the £12 billion figure that he refers to is exactly the sum that I proposed might be raised as a result of the equalisation of income tax and capital gains tax rates in the Taxing Wealth Report.
Might it be that Wes Streeting's advisers have been reading my work?
If so, it's a pity that they ignored the rest.
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The Sweeting suggestion is to equalise rates but apply to gains after inflation. Indexation I think he called it. He’s kept quiet about that part as all the ‘get the rich to pay even more’ crowd are going to be moving to his side.
There is no justification for indextion unless income of taxed an 2015 prices.
I word of advice about Streeting and the rest of the weaklings in the Labour party:
Watch what they do; not what they say.
Well done Prof, your reach will continue.
Thank you
Did I hear the Overton window creak a little?
To mix the metaphors a little – maybe it was the sound of a fox being shot?
They pinch the ideas because they are scared your ideas are cutting through. They are.
Even if Streeting resurrected the 2017 manifesto, I wouldn’t trust him.
Congratulations Richard
Cometh the hour, Cometh the man.
Necessity demands truthful solutions for which there is no substitute.