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

I agree but you do have a choice about the state pension. Can I give you an example?

I retired on my 60th birthday.

My (now ex) friend said I was “entitled” to 6 months JSA so I should apply for it. 😱

I was,obviously, as it’s a contributions based benefit. I told her that there was no way I was applying for it because if I had to do 35 hours a week applying for jobs I’d have been as well staying at work and getting 10 times a week for the 35 hours.

She said that I am “ what’s wrong with this country” 😱

Then she fell out with her GP pal because he didn’t apply for the state pension as he didn’t need it. 🤐

So I do think individual people can make a difference to the benefits bill, but apparently we’re wrong for doing so.

Studied very hard at school. Was good at maths and science. Did well in my engineering at university. Had drive and motivation.

Teaching and equipment was often shit so I had to often teach myself.

And as I have said, time and time again, but no one seems to want to address…..YES of course employers should pay enough for people to live on. That shouldn’t even be a bloody debate!
BUT, less than 5% of UC claimants are working more than 30 hours a week. So HOW is this an issue with employers not paying enough, rather than employees not working enough hours???

You missed out the ones who because they've got themselves a decent job delude themselves they've more in common with the elite than the rest of the workers. The sycophantic, forelock tuggers who think if they bow and scrape enough to theoretical billionaires, it'll somehow rub off.

I was addressing another pp. My points were in response to theirs and were not specific to UC claimants.

Exactly this, they’re not talking about a salaried position and wages being taxed, it’s wealth generation of those gaining more wealth just sitting on their backsides watching the telly. It’s people hoarding wealth and assets so the rest of us are fighting each other to afford what’s left. If they want to leave the UK, let them, if their businesses are viable other entrepreneurs will step in and pay into the society the greedy wealth hoarders don’t want to. We’ll all be better off

Investments carry risk

My partner and I could be claiming almost £3500 in benefits, and not working with our disabled son.

In our cohort of SENd parents, we know one other couple where both parents work.

In many cases that’s because they genuinely can’t, we’re fortunate that we can - so do work. But we’d be able to cope financially just fine if we didn’t.

Amazing how a conversation about whether the top 0.1% of wealthiest people in the uk should pay a similar rate of tax to the rest of us is redirected towards - let’s focus on the people at the bottom of the pile, the very poorest in society. Let’s whip up some resentment about them instead.

I feel like I see this happen quite a lot. Maybe we should keep the focus on the ultra wealthy for a change because waving benefit scroungers or immigrants in front of us just feels like bait.

You stated that “employers should pay their staff enough to live on, that should be a basic cornerstone of any decent society”. Which I agree with. But the statistics DO NOT SHOW that employers are not paying enough. If that was the case, the majority of UC claimants would be in full time work, with top ups. They simply are not.
So why do you think employers aren’t paying their staff enough to live on?

Well...
Currently it's quite common to borrow against a business/other assets either to raise money for investment or in some cases simply for tax free spending money (rather than taking a wage and paying income tax or drawing out profits and paying capital gains). So, if they can calculate the worth to do that they can calculate the worth to pay tax. No reason businesses can't self declare with government checks (and if the worth they are borrowing against is more than the worth they pay tax on that's tax fraud and to jail they go).

The wealthy already pay higher taxes. If they are taxed to death they will just move to a new country where they will be taxed less. Then not only do we lose high tax revenue but also the wealthy people spending in the UK economy. A billionaire moved out of UK this week.

But all businesses declare EBITDA on the accounts they legally have to submit. That doesn’t need to be separately “declared”, HMRC already have the info. And industry multipliers are common knowledge. But, as I said, that doesn’t mean there is a load of spare cash hanging about?

A tax on wealth is a tax on investments, not on salaries. Nobody wants to charge more tax to the chief of medicine working her ass off for her salary because we recognise she is doing a valuable job and she is paying a load of income tax already.

We want to tax the person choosing not to work and just live off their, or their family’s, investments. Or the business owner not taking an income but selling £10m of shares a year and only paying 24% tax on it instead of 45% because it goes through capital gains. A wealth tax will increase taxes for people like that, not people on high income.

Every HNW individual I know except one, is wealthy via inheritance and not hard work. They genuinely wouldn’t know hard work if it bit them on the backside. They can afford the very best accountants to help them avoid tax (legally) yet the people who have done the actual work at family firms have been stuck on PAYE. The system is far from fair, so the rich get richer and the divide grows. The one person I know who has become a multimillionaire through his own gumption, was able to kick off his venture with a modest inheritance of £120k, and the help of his private school old boys network, so not exactly rags to riches either. His business model works in part by paying a lot of employees not a lot and bemoans his legal obligations to ssp & mat. They can all easily afford the 2% and it would help to redress the social balance.

No they don’t - they pay proportionally lower taxes than the rest of us because the increase in their wealth is not coming from income. So if I pay an effective tax rate of 38% and they pay an effective tax rate of, say 25%, in what way are they being “taxed to death” ?

Bear in mind as well that what they have left after tax buys far more than what I, or you, have left.

You really are illustrating a lack of basic understanding.

I have worked hard my whole life and earned good money in finance. My brother and Father worked much harder, are much smarter and have much less money from being in the NHS. The World isn’t fair, but I have no issue saying they are more important to society and we need people like them

Couldn't agree more. Pathetic, isn't it?

This is a bit silly, but it comes up often.

Labour go in to every meeting thinking what can we tax and it shows. They hit businesses and schools and nothing good has come from it, rather job losses and school closures, so they need another round from somewhere else.

Each time posters are adamant the tax will be worth it and yet constantly asking for more. You’re Labour I think? The Pat McFadden line applies.

What you’re asking for, read your own post. You must be immune to job losses for young people and Labour’s taxes. Are you retired?

Come off it. You've only got to look at average salaries and compare them with property prices and the overall COL.

Or, y'know, forget about statistics for a moment and listen to people's actual lived experiences.

It's a funny old world where people who went to University to do an Engineering degree cannot possibly find the intelligence to understand that going to University is a privilege not available to all.

If there is no cash, can’t the tax just accrue and be taken from the estate at death before any other calculations? If the assets decrease below the tax threshold then the tax amount can be reduced accordingly.

Higher earners pay 50 percent tax. Most people don't. A friend of mine has a business and they pay themselves well from the income it generates. She and her DH have to pay 50 percent tax. How is that lower than you pay? How is their money not coming from income? They both work very hard often 6 days a week. What they have left is surely up to them how they spend their money. You sound jealous of people who have more money than you have.