Topics / Economy and the state
Should taxes on the wealthy be substantially increased?
Should people with high wealth pay substantially more tax, and if so, should that come through a tax on wealth itself or through heavier taxes on the income and gains that wealth produces? The disagreement turns on values about fairness, property, growth and political equality, and on contested evidence about revenue, avoidance and migration.
Positions
- Yes, including wealth taxes: Taxes on the wealthy should rise substantially, including a tax on large fortunes themselves, because wealth has grown far faster than incomes, is heavily concentrated and is taxed more lightly than work, and concentrated wealth becomes concentrated economic and political power.
- Raise taxes on income from wealth, not wealth itself: The wealthy should pay more, but the effective way to achieve this is to tax the income and gains that wealth produces as heavily as earnings, by aligning capital gains tax with income tax and closing generous reliefs, rather than introducing a wealth tax that is costly to administer and easy to avoid.
- No: Taxes on the wealthy should not be substantially increased: the wealthiest already pay a large share of tax, and further rises risk driving mobile capital and entrepreneurs abroad, raising less than promised and penalising the saving, investment and risk-taking that create jobs and growth.