The case for a wealth tax has never been stronger
One of the most defining characteristics of my political philosophy is that we need to create a society with a fairer distribution of income, wealth and power because current levels of inequality are so damaging to life chances and social outcomes. There is a great deal of evidence to support this position in the book “The Spirit Level” which I have reviewed here.
The global pandemic occasioned by the coronavirus has massively increased the inequalities in many societies – especially the UK and the US – and the measures that have had to be taken to combat the virus have resulted in dramatically reduced economic growth and huge increases in national debt.
These are unprecedented times with unprecedented challenges and we need radical new policies to build back better. One of these policies should be a wealth tax.
Here in the UK, the Wealth Tax Commission – a group of leading tax experts and economists brought together by the London School of Economics and Warwick University to examine the case for a levy on assets – has proposed a wealth tax which could raise £260bn over five years if the threshold was set at £1m per household, with a levy of 1% payable on the value of their assets above this level. You can read more about this sensible and practical idea here.
This is not a crazy idea. It is already happening in Argentina and has the support of experts and newspapers in the UK as you can read here.
Of course, the establishment elite would campaign against a wealth tax and I once wrote a short story about a Labour Prime Minister who backed such an idea, You can read that story here.