It is weird how everytime people run the numbers on this the conclusion is that the wealth of the mega rich is totally sacrosanct and untouchable and some number of the plebs are going to have to foot the bill for everything. I'm sure that's just a coincidence
Top 1% own ~10% of the UK’s wealth = £1.3Tn (mostly housing). If you did an annual 1% wealth tax on them it would raise maybe £10-20bn, which isn’t enough. The cliff edge would likely distort things so you raised less than that
"weird how the maths always works out that we shouldn't bother doing this"
I think the problem is it’s symptomatic of the belief that someone else should pay. A wealth tax might be a good idea, but it should apply to everyone; people with little won’t pay very much. But wealth taxes are only politically possible if they apply to someone else
of course, all taxes should be progressive.
UK tax system is extremely progressive. The idea it isn’t, or that we have exceptionally high wealth inequality, has been imported from US politics. Wealth inequality here is comparable or lower than European peers
The existence of billionaires in the UK is proof positive the tax system is nowhere near progressive enough. Regardless of what is going on in the US, wealth inequality in Europe is much too high.
That probably needs to be addressed with monopoly rules and wider culture. It’s an extremely small number of people (~100), there’s not enough juice there to squeeze. We could do outright appropriation, but the whole system comes down then
If it isn't possible for the sytems to be fair and equitable for all. And the system clearly is incapable of housing, clothing and feeding everyone then probably the system has to come down then.
I also think it’s fine for people to want to appropriate the wealth of billionaires, but just own that as your philosophical position, it’s quite a different thing from a general wealth tax and you’re not doing it really to raise funds
I have never disputed my desire to see billionaires stripped of their wealth however that happens. Appropriation or a 10% wealth tax would be fine and dandy by me. And frankly if government's don't act climate change is going to do it for them.
My guess would be that climate change increases inequality, not solves it
In fact, during austerity, taxes became *more* progressive. It’s possible that incentive structure lead to the wage suppression we’ve seen
bsky.app/profile/toma...