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Fiscal Policy - How Much Could be Raised by a Wealth Tax?

Graham Watson

27th October 2022

Campaign group, Tax Justice UK, argues that the government could implement five tax reforms, most notably equalising Capital Gains and income tax rates, to reduce levels of tax avoidance, among other measures seeking to tax the wealth of the super-rich.

Read this article in the Guardian

The great debate about this is to what extent introducing these measures would be 'fair': the richest 1% already pay a sizeable amount of tax. Or is it more about the politics of envy?

I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the two - and you might want to think where you stand on the issue. I have to say that any measures looking to increases the tax take from the rich need to be aware that there will still be loopholes, but also I don't agree with those people who say that such taxes will see an outflow of the world's super rich from London.

Read this article from the Guardian

It seems as though the public mood is moving in favour of wealth taxes, with a coalition of charities calling for the government to increase taxes on the rich. The so-called Stop the Squeeze Campaign suggest that they should "pay (a) proper share" of tax - whatever that might be.

I'm not sure that wealth taxes are going to be introduced but it's making debate about the nature of the tax system more prominent.

Graham Watson

Graham Watson has taught Economics for over twenty years. He contributes to tutor2u, reads voraciously and is interested in all aspects of Teaching and Learning.

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