Starmer e Reeves dovrebbero preparare il Regno Unito per l’imposta sulla ricchezza, affermano i migliori economisti
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/28/starmer-reeves-uk-wealth-tax-thomas-piketty
di Shiny-Tie-126
Starmer e Reeves dovrebbero preparare il Regno Unito per l’imposta sulla ricchezza, affermano i migliori economisti
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/28/starmer-reeves-uk-wealth-tax-thomas-piketty
di Shiny-Tie-126
23 commenti
Guardian using credentialism at its worst, economists such as Thomas Piketty and Ha-Joon Chang are far from representative of the profession.
More likely to look at increasing Capital gains taxes and raiding pensions further I think.
I’m not sure what the maiden budget was intended to deliver, maybe second time lucky for Reeves?
That said, as a country/Government we seem to borrow a lot of money from Hedge funds these days so I suppose the cost of borrowing will increase further.
There has been a decrease in Pension funds buying bonds, primarily because the Chancellor’s strategy for growth seems to have had the reverse effect.
The cost of ignoring the poor is going to massively outweigh the cost of millionaires leaving.
Things like Land Value Tax could be used to fund significant improvements to infrastructure that would radically improve the economic performance of the nation. Government will instead raise income tax, and raid pensions.
I mean, why take a fair share of gains from public investment when you can tax the hell out of economically productive activity?
Should have just stopped the statement. ( Starmer and Reeves should prepare) .
Knowing how the world seems to work, it’ll be a wealth tax on anyone middle class, with an exemption for anyone with assets above a mill or so.
Gotta keep hammering the middle.
I’m all for taxing wealth, but it can be quite tricky to do in a productive way unfortunately.
I’d like to see a one off wealth tax above 5-10 million in assets. It being one-off should be it’s less worthwhile to dodge and financial habits wouldn’t necessarily adjust to adapt in the same way that would make an annual wealth tax likely less profitable in the long run. Setting the threshold at this point meanwhile means that the administrative costs would not be such a deterrent as it impact a relatively small group who would be easier to assess. I understand there are argument to start the tax at 500k. That might raise more money, but ultimately would be much less popular/ cause more issues/ have much higher administrative costs. In any case, the expectation should be that the substantial sum raised would be put towards projects that actually impact long-term growth and infrastructure provision, not just plugging financial holes in social care provision.
A land value tax would also be a good move. It’s harder to dodge and would likely actually raise a decent sum yearly.
CGT reform is probably also necessary, and would be more fair when income is currently taxed fairly highly relative to the services on offer in the UK. However, the possible productivity and investment costs might be a deterrent here.
Council tax reform is likely also needed. The bands were set 20 years ago. They need updating. Although the challenge will be implementing this in a way that doesn’t unfairly target young renters in cities who are already in pretty dire straits.
It doesn’t matter how many people say it, no British Govt. is going to properly tax the mega wealthy.
That would include many of them and the clique they constantly suck up to.
Corbins new party would in principle but will never get the chance to do it in actuality.
Many parties seeking votes promise attacks on the wealthy that are never carried out in power.
Labour being one.
And by wealth tax what will actually happen is an increase in taxation on high earners rather than those whose wealth breeds more wealth without them actually doing anything.
I still don’t understand why each country treats this like their own personal problem. It’s a global problem and it needs a global solution.
Get the G8 around the table and all shake hands and agree to tax the super wealthy. There won’t be any running from it and it will significantly benefit the entire global population with all the billionaires get treated the same way.
Take us back to the days when people could afford mortgages, holidays, families etc.
invest in social services and development. Invest in growth. Stop investing in the rich getting richer.
It has to be a land value tax or it’s just a waste of time
I think the UK needs to change its attitude towards a few things:
You gotta ask yourself, if you were rich, why should you pay higher taxes towards a government (im not just blaming Labour, I’m blaming years of mismanagement) that continues to fund schemes such as the triple lock, over pays for infrastructure projects like HS2, and doesn’t make substantial changes like with welfare.
I believe if we need money, the rich is a place to go, but we gotta switch things up. We almost portray being rich as being a bad thing in the UK, and it’s something I don’t understand.
The government has to be clear and say look, we want to raise taxes on you, and I know it’s not ideal, but in return we will use it to fund xxx, alongside reforming xxx, so that in a few years we can start to revert such taxes. I forgot the name of the effect, but in the Nordics people are happier to pay higher taxes because they actually see something in return, whilst we do not.
I don’t believe a wealth tax is a permanent solution, but I believe that in the short term, in order to help get the UK back on track alongside other things, that if we change the attitude in which we do it, and talk to some of the richest in the country, we can do it without being greatly affected by capital flight.
I also want to emphasise my point that implementing a wealth tax will probably only sustain where we are now. In reality, it must occur alongside other measures, such as cutting the triple lock or welfare reforms.
The problem is that 0 band rate starts too high on the UK, our tax take already depends too much on high earners.
It’s not popular but taxes need to rise massively at the low end if we want to spend like we do. Most Europeans pay close to 30% tax on the first ,£10,000 of income.
It was like that in the UK less than 20 years ago.
A wealth tax will only work if countries band together to do it. Otherwise, our mega wealthy will just leave and take their business elsewhere.
Why do we need to prepared? I’ve been ready my whole life.
Yup, the rich will mean earning above £50k, and the wealth will be your ISA.
The main idea being spread (2% on assets >£10m) is questionable without some kind of reform to either CGT or IHT or something else. People use Switzerland as an ideal place where it’s applied but don’t mention that federal taxes are low there (11.5%), they pay 0 CGT on movable assets (like stocks) but applies to immovable assets which are exempt from federal taxes and their WT is applied at the cantonal level which ranges from 0.15% to 1% depending on what canton you reside in.
The one thing that makes this hard to accomplish imo – it’s not the rich leaving, selling assets or whatever – it’s the valuation + (il)liquidity angle.
How will the government value an alternative asset like collectibles (art, fine wine, etc), secondary shares in a VC backed startup, or private equity stakes in private companies? It’s not like you can pull public financial data from somewhere and plug it into a financial model.
What constitutes ‘wealth’ is too nebulous for a lot of people. Do you mean people with plus £10 million net worths or imposing another extortionate tax upon PAYE people earning £125,000 a year? Or do you define it as £50,000 a year?
For starters, the 12k a year non-taxable is too high. Most countries start at 10k which is more equitable.
Isn’t council tax already a form of wealth tax? Why not increase council tax instead, taking the extra for central government?
Thomas Pickett is not a “top economist”. He’s a polemicist and a left wing ideologue.
Amongst his other ridiculous calls is the prediction that Milei’s policies in Argentina would be a disaster.
They’re destroying the country one policy at a time.
As someone on the lower end of the salary scale, I still think taxing higher earners any more is a stupid idea, they’re pretty much taxed to the bone already and account for the vast amount of tax income in the U.K.
A wealth tax needs to be aimed squarely at corporations and those with net worths over the tens of millions mark. Sure, many of the cunts will leave and we will suffer in the short term but they will be replaced by those willing to pay their fair share and besides, it’s pretty difficult to dig up an entire country estate and take it with you abroad…
Cut loopholes alongside a large amount of small tax increases for the rich, tune it properly. Add a voluntary tax rate to get your name on a building. Do something, rather than cut to the bone every single possible service until this country collapses.