What do you think of this idea of a wealth tax?

[LuluJakey1]

This is from The Guardian this afternoon. It is the third article I have seen in the Press two days promoting this idea.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/06/arts-wealth-tax-rishi-sunak-nhs-public-services?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Personally, I think it is bonkers. She seems to be suggesting that ALL wealth in this country - houses, savings, pensions, shares/paintings etc should be subjected to a one off tax of 10% to get us out of the financial mess.

DH and I would have to find about £80,000 cash! We'd have to sell the house?

Yes- Yes it is a good idea and you are BU to criticise it.
No- It is an awful idea and you are right to criticise it.

When these sort of taxes have been considered before it has usually been at a tiny percentage e.g financial transactions tax at 0.1%. That rate might be more viable as a lot of people might just pay it without an argument.

did you even read the article? It's not Toynebee's suggestion, but that of a think-tank headed by a retired senior civil servant

Well they’ve been thinking for a long time as Polly Toynbee has been harping on about bringing on a wealth tax for years.

This time under the guise of saving the arts.

@Anniemabel

When talking about homes it would be 10% of the value of your equity - clearly not 10% of the value of your house!

But a wealth tax of that nature will never work. Adding 1% to the basic rate of income tax would probably generate more revenue and leave people less annoyed.

Is that the value of your equity comparing what it is worth now compared to what the price was when you bought it? Or what it is worth now compared to what you actually paid for it with your mortgage? Mortgage costs add tens of thousands to the cost of a house, as does stamp duty.

This is a thing in the Netherlands (not 10% though).

You only pay tax on the equity in your house, not the whole house price. Also in nl it only applies to second homes.

Did Polly T mention how much would be levied on her family's villa in Tuscany perchance?

Taking the lower middle and middle class is not the answer. Look higher.

FFS, a wealth tax, by definition, is designed to tax the WEALTHY. Now, there might be disagreement about what is classified as wealthy, but broadly speaking, it doesn't affect the vast majority of people.

Putting a "wealth" tax on people who are not wealthy becomes completely contra indicative - creating increased financial hardship.

I remember hearing a story about a proposed tax in the US designed to tax the top 10% of people but people were OUTRAGED because they all thought they were in that bracket. This may or may not be a true story, but I'm starting to think it's true.

Just put it in perspective, if everyone has to produce 10% of the value of their homes, that means massive remortgaging. In light of how many people are out of work, furloughed etc, this becomes unsustainable unless the government forces mortgage lenders to avoid their usual rules. Ing which case basically the banks will all be lending to the government but with much higher risk.... of course it's not a sustainable option.

I remember hearing a story about a proposed tax in the US designed to tax the top 10% of people but people were OUTRAGED because they all thought they were in that bracket.

I think some people are against because they have aspirations so think it may penalise them in the future. They don't tend to realise that it's unlikely to happen.

Pop 2p on income tax

Raise the top tax rate by 2%

Tax the international companies on profits that are actually made here - goggle amazon etc

Second home owners - properties empty - triple the council tax since it's empty it denies locals the right to live there and since empty no contribution for most of the year to local economy
Buying houses to do up and sell on tax the profit at an increased rate
Increase stamp duty on the houses over say £2m
Tax on super yachts and stop allowing rich people to register their yachts as a separate company...
Stop working tax credits for people with savings over £16K to bring inline with UC
Free bus passes/tv licence/attendance allowance (I mean we all get old and slow) etc - means test - strange how some people with tons of money get this
Stop allowing private schools to register as charities - pay tax
As they are vouchers for energy saving home improvements to provide employment for people in these industries
Increase death duties by a small percentage 1%

I would end up paying more tax with the above but I have a job so should pay some more. We need to spread the burden a bit and the furlough/cost to the NHS/benefits will surge etc so has to be paid somehow!
Increase tax on flying
Charge a small amount to enter the country as many other countries do - not enough to put people off but pays towards some of the costs of border control etc - say £15 p/p
£10 tax on a bottle of whiskey - I mean it tastes disgusting
£5 charge for failing to turn up to a doctors appointment/hospital appt and not cancelling

.... We need to spread the burden a bit ....
No we don't. We are paying more than enough. Those fuckers in parliament and gov agencies need to spend sensibly, and not award projects to firms with hugely inflated price tags!!

I do service/business design and in multiple countries (EU) I have seen the horrible waste that goes on in government areas. Sensible and logical process re-modelling can save millions on just one process. And there are thousands of processes...
Using the right tools, organizing information and access to it at the right points again can save millions.
Once it's gov money, no one cares (best case) or throws money out the window in return for favours or other ...

@Hingeandbracket

Did Polly T mention how much would be levied on her family's villa in Tuscany perchance?

See I find this really annoying that people assume that nobody would ever be in favour of something that wouldn’t benefit them personally. It assumes that everyone operates from a position of self interest which really isn’t the case.

See I find this really annoying that people assume that nobody would ever be in favour of something that wouldn’t benefit them personally. It assumes that everyone operates from a position of self interest which really isn’t the case.
See I find it really annoying that you made an asumption about why I was mentioning it - you've told me my intent but you have zero evidence.

So why did you mention it?

@mothertruck yes houses have gone up bit you cant say they have done nothing they will have to maintain their houses
Roofs , boilers , windows dont last forever and if you tax someone 10% of there house value such as my nan £330000 so £33000 where does she het this from , shes 87 so cant get a loan and has nothing much in bank
Yes her house has gone up since shes purchased but so has every other house so if she tried to sell and buy she wouldnt have anything left
Lives in a small 2 bed gff ahw cant downsize much from that and a one bed is probably only about £20000 less

This is all getting rather complicated. One easy way would be to double council tax for one year while removing the upper cap (band H). There's £50 billion right there! And you could sell this easily as a one-off to support public services.

And it's not as if council tax has ever been contentious (dons suit of armour).

@Disquieted1 double council tax? I already pay nearly £300 a month

If they double council tax they will have to raise council tax support/give more of a discount for single adults. Which might defeat the point some what!

@Disquieted1

This is all getting rather complicated. One easy way would be to double council tax for one year while removing the upper cap (band H). There's £50 billion right there! And you could sell this easily as a one-off to support public services.

And it's not as if council tax has ever been contentious (dons suit of armour).

This is a really bad idea. As a renter I pay council tax, not the landlord. I'm happy to afford the current prices.

@Notfeelinggreattoday

What makes you think 10%?

Whatever is suggested there will be people against it.
Look, someone's got to pay for Matt Hancock dammit!

Fuck doubling council tax. We’re already paying nearly £300 a month and all we get for it is our bins emptied.

If they tax BTL landlords, surely the "cost" of the tax will be passed on in a rent increase?

@pussycatinboots

If they tax BTL landlords, surely the "cost" of the tax will be passed on in a rent increase?

Rental income is already taxed.

I know, but if they tax it further (with a new "save the arts" tax) surely rents will increase as the landlord won't want to be "out of pocket" iyswim?

Our council tax is nearly £200 a month and the amenities are crap, I wouldn't pay £400, I'd make myself unemployed and leave my DH so I wouldn't have to pay it.

10% seems excessive when you consider how expensive housing is, but I'd be okay with a smaller wealth tax in theory IF I felt like I could trust our present government to spend the money wisely. Unfortunately I think its more likely they would piss it all up the wall on badly managed projects and therefore I think it's a shit idea.