AIBU to think a 2% wealth tax on the rich is unfair?

[Mrspepperpotpot]

i just saw an article and petition from oxfam saying if we taxed the ‘super rich’ 2% it would solve a lot of problems. They were suggesting 2% on anyone worth 10 million. Everyone in the comments agreed

I just don’t understand this mentality. High earners are hit at every turn. They usually use private health and private schools, pay the most tax, get hit with tax on savings, IHT, land tax, pensions etc etc Why on earth should people earn money to be taxed on it, to then be taxed on it again and again.

Why do people begrudge others having money when they’ve worked extremely hard to get it? Why isn’t there uproar about benefits instead?

I know this will never actually happen but the amount of people who seem to want it to is astonishing

No. Do you?

Genuinely.

I think it's awful to live in a country where the Govt has to top up wages through benefits because employers won't pay people what they're worth.

Just to be clear, I have been fortunate enough to have never needed to claim a benefit in my life. Except Family Allowance, which was universal and an "allowance" rather than a "benefit".

Free child care is a benefit btw.

I think it’s delusional /overly optimistic to think that the tax burden on moderate and higher rate tax payers - those who would scoff at being described as wealthy- will not have to increase massively to maintain the current welfare state.

My point is that we need a work force. We need shelf stackers, delivery drivers, refuse collectors, cleaners, etc etc. The work force should be able to live a decent standard of life. They shouldn’t be making ‘heating or eating’ decisions or priced out of secure housing or feel like they can’t afford to have kids. They should be able to lead healthy lives.

Every wealthy person has wealth that will have been built on the labour of others. Those people deserve a decent standard of life. Not to be trapped in poverty.

The way to do this is redress the balance. Part of that is taxing wealth.

He is one of the many, irritating “patriotic millionaires” who have already made their money, in favourable economic climates. They now want to tell those of us still trying to earn our money why it’s better that the economic climate is less favourable. Nope.

Paid their "shite" wages I think you mean.

Have you actually listened to him?

So what you're saying is that they don't have a choice to start up elsewhere, rather than a potential exit tax influencing their decision where to start up?

Why do you assume everyone's wage is shit? I know Amazon and Google SWEs in my family..they are paid very well.

Of course the addition of 12 million people drives up housing demand and therefore price!

And as I have said, if this is the case, I agree, it shouldn’t happen. But the governments own statistics say that less than 5% of UC claimants are working more than 30 hours a week. So this rhetoric of everyone slaving away full time and needing government top ups simply cannot be true? Unless I am missing something crucial, and I might well be, aren’t people just not working enough hours?
And I have never claimed a single benefit in my life, ever. I also believe, for what it’s worth, that I should and will have to sacrifice my state pension because the country simply can’t afford it.

Yes and these people get paid the value of their labour according to the labour market and supply and demand

it amazes me when I see people frame this as the ultra rich being “hammered”, or the suggestion that they are already paying considerably than the rest of us.

My effective tax rate is about 38.3% of my salary. For the ultra wealthy their effective tax rates drop down to anything between 20-30%. Proportionally I’m shouldering a much heavier tax burden than they are, and the same will be true for most people on here. We are paying more than them, not less.

This much lower tax rate is being paid by them in spite of the fact that their wealth is increasing at a far higher rate than anyone else in society. The concentration of wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer families is becoming obscene, and it is only accelerating. This doesn’t bode well for a healthy functioning society, and anyone concerned about the long term economic prospects of their country should realise that this can’t be allowed to continue. Otherwise we rush headlong into a world in which almost everyone loses except for a tiny elite who gain everything.

In a progressive tax system you might expect the ultra-wealthy to pay a higher tax rate than us, not less. A wealth tax is aimed at creating a more level playing field. It would set an expectation that at a particularly high level of wealth you should expect to contribute a certain amount of tax, and that should be broadly consistent with the proportion of tax paid by e.g people on high salaries paying top rate income tax.

To do otherwise is to embrace a two tier system that leans heavily on the employed to shoulder the costs of our society, whilst awarding a hugely valuable tax break to anyone who is able to structure their affairs to avoid taxable income.

Yes, I listened to a torturous episode of Diary of a CEO where he shouted over a perfectly reasonable entrepreneur who was successfully dismantling his arguments with fact. Gary is very emotional and means well, but he is not a professional economist, he is a campaigner with a degree in economics.

The documentary featuring him a few weeks ago was not a good look for him which is a shame.

I can think of three people I know who fall into the £10m plus bracket. One founded a business and built it up from scratch. He did work very hard, but he had family money to invest at the outset and comes from a fairly privileged background. The other two inherited their wealth and have never really worked a day in their life. I do know that they would not leave the country even if there was a wealth tax.

Define “very well”.

6 figures. Some even on 200k USD plus

🙄🙄🙄

What is this episode? I'd like to see

Google suggests that there are more than 55,000 people in the UK with a net worth of more than £10mn so I’m not sure your sample size of 3 is representative.

Its from 2025, he is debating Daniel Priestley. If you google the name of the podcast and his name, it comes up top of search.

Does no one remember how badly the first French wealth tax went?

🤣. I’m going to get a job as an Amazon delivery driver.

My friend hasn’t worked a day in her life and lives off millions given to her by her dad. Is that fair? Is she a hard worker who doesn’t deserve to be taxed? Lots of poor people work hard too for fucks sake.

No one needs 10 million to be comfortable. This tax won’t change their life at all.

You do understand that benefits are not the only thing we need money for? That 75% of government spending is on things other than benefits?
Also that 55% of the benefits spend is on pensions and another 12% on in work benefits due to low wages?
You don't want rich people to have to pay for a group you see as 'scroungers'. But how do you think we should be paying for the 62% of people who get benefits because they are too old to work, or too poorly paid to cover costs? And how are we to afford the 75% of costs that are nothing to do with benefits?
Do you want to pay more tax yourself to protect the wealth of millionaires?

I'm saying both things are true.