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

IDK if it's "fair" however to me the economy and the welfare of everyone should be a responsibility we all carry. Due to this we should look to reduce Inequality: Addressing extreme wealth disparity promotes long-term economic stability. High concentrations of un-taxed wealth can stall economic growth by reducing consumer spending power and limiting upward social mobility.

i also do not agree with companies such as Amazon and Starbucks getting away with paying little to no taxes in the UK and would be for companies such as this having to pay taxes through the number of people they employ or frankly through number of coffee bags they use. /parcels they send out. (Open to other suggestions I just do not agree with them rerouting their "profits" to declare almost no profit in the country they operate in)

Should also be said I grew up in Denmark where (from Google to get it right)
High earners in Denmark face a combined personal income tax burden (including bottom, middle, top, and municipal taxes plus labor market contributions) that can reach nearly 56% on top-bracket earnings. Furthermore, share dividends and capital gains are heavily taxed at 42%, which is well above the global average

So I am aware I have a different social lense to others than this.

They are not choosing to do that to help the government or the county, it’s to help themselves. 🙄

The problem is on the whole current super rich are running businesses people want to use. I like to shop local and support small businesses. I have friend is always telling me how they get stuff cheaper on Amazon. But when she goes on about the tech billionaires she doesn't get that if people didn't buy on a Amazon and supported local business the the likes of Jeff Bezos wouldn't be billionaires.

Of course YANBU. Only reason it works in Switzerland is becoming the rates are tiny, the cantons compete and ALL other taxes are low and stable.

This would cause them just to leave and change their tax residency. Views that some posters are the reason my family and I will be shifting to the GCC.

Let's not conflate PAYE income tax with a tax on assets. I know the are different. People usually have to invest earnings from income into investments such as property.

People bleat on about how low earners work hard too......but the reason higher earners make more is skill. They do things a low earner simply can't. Supply and demand.

‘High earners are hit at every turn.’

This statement is true, but unconnected to the wealth tax. The wealth tax doesn’t tax income, it taxes wealth. High earners may also have wealth, but the richest in our society are not the highest tax payers. That is what the wealth tax looks to address. The two are different, and that’s the point.

My main concern is that the £10m or whatever they chose should be linked to CPI/RPI because £10m might seem like a lot now (and it is), but who knows in 10/20/30yrs time as the value of money is eroded by inflation.

The tax system in the UK needs a total overhaul & simplification, but nobody has the balls.

Not all high earners work harder and longer than low earners, but in general of course they do. People in higher paying jobs have more responsibility, which is a form of work and significant mental load.

Agreed. People earning this amount of money and not being happy to be taxed 2% more is due to ideological beliefs. It’s nothing to do with ability to pay.

If the media reports are accurate, Burnham is very likely going to conflate income with wealth by equalising CGT with income tax. Despite as you say that investment often comes from already taxed income.

But hey, it’s ‘fair’.

‘There’s always exit taxes’

Even Reeves got the message in 2025 on this one. You’d damage start ups trying in the U.K.

All of the occupations you mentioned do 3 x 12 hour shifts a week, not 5!

Small businesses and sole traders are the biggest causes of the tax gap (its a well known myth that its larger corporates). We would do better to get existing small businesses to actually pay the tax they owe.

Examples:

• small businesses who over claim expenses to reduce their taxable income
• small businesses who pay their wife/son/daughter/mother/etc a 10k wage as a "secretary" to reduce their tax
• small businesses who take some money cash in hand to either underdeclare income or avoid hitting vat registration thresholds
• small businesses who sell illegally imported tobacco/alcohol to avoid duties
• small businesses who hire undocumented migrants & pay them less than min wage (but often take a company tax deduction for higher wages....!!)

-small businesses who ask you to select "paying friends or family" rather than "paying for goods or services" when you make a bank transfer

All these are a huge, huge contributor to the uk tax gap. Far more than large corporates.

Most people I know of this wealth, it is all tied up in their business and they have less than £200k in cash, and that’s probably 2-3 years post tax earning for them.

They can’t give up their earnings to pay the wealth tax, or they’d starve. So they need to cover costs some other way.

£200k in their pocket is £508k of post tax earnings in the company. So now they need to cut £500k (actually a bit more because they lose the corporation tax deduction too when the costs disappear) of costs in the company to pay the wealth tax.

The easiest way to do that for most businesses - cut staff costs. Fewer pay rises, worse pension offerings, no bonuses and redundancies.

So I’d be careful what you wish for.

Most countries already have cgt aligned with income tax, this is an excellent idea.

The point being you only pay tax on your gain. Not your original money invested that was already taxed. Duh

Gain = proceeds less original cost/ investment

The ‘high earners don’t work harder’ thing is sometimes true but not always true. I’m a high earner (though not at this level). While I know I don’t work harder than all lower earners (I would imagine nursing is harder than my job in many ways, for example) I certainly work harder and longer hours than anyone else in my organisation, and I work harder and longer hours than any of my friends in middle class middle income type jobs. I am never fully ‘off’, even on holiday and if there’s a crisis I need to drop everything to deal with it. If something goes seriously wrong in my organisation, my job is at risk. All of the above are the reasons why I’m paid as much as I am, it isn’t just random. (I’m also excellent at my job and I’ve made the company a lot of money over the years).

Other very high earners earn a large amount for different reasons, ie Manchester City pay Erling Haaland as much as they do for his incredible talent. Not because he works harder than a nurse. This is how capitalism works. Of course he could afford to give 2% of his money away, but then he (and likely all others like him) would move to Real Madrid or wherever.

I’m always surprised when these things have to be explained again and again on these threads.

Yes, we can tax the rich people in this county and then they will leave so making the total tax take even less.

I've said exactly the same as well on MN but it falls on deaf ears. I looked at this as well.

Life isn’t fair. Is it fair that you’ll wait 3 years to get a service from CAHMS for your suicidal teenager, or wait the same amount of time for a neurological assessment. Is it fair that children are effectively excluded from school because of lack of resource? Or is it fair that essential support is being removed from vulnerable adults? Or that children are dying because of a lack of protective services? Or people can’t access healthcare that would enable them to return to the workplace. Or that some people, no matter how hard they work, are left on the breadline?

These are things our taxed income pays for, every time someone moans about waiting lists, or lack of services, or mourns a child death while simultaneously doing everything they can to avoid paying tax they contribute to the failure of the system.

We can’t tax people with more money than they could ever use in a life time, because it’s not fair. They can pay poverty wages though, no question of whether that’s fair.

Why does an exit charge stop start ups in the UK? The US has an exit charge and a healthy (possibly healthier than ours) start up scene.

And FWIW, I would actually happily pay more tax than the massive amount I already pay if I believed that a government would really significantly improve the NHS, education, defence and other key public services. Am not 100% convinced that this lot would use it in the right way…

Can't really argue with this.

What is being proposed is a 2% tax on wealth over 10 million. So those with 10 million won’t pay anything. Those with 11 million will pay 20k.

Do you not think it's grossly obscene that a human needs more than 10 mil? 😂

Is the rest of the tax system similar? There will be balancing incentives we don’t have.

There is enough money to pay for CAMHS. It should be priority expenditure. The truth is there is massive wastage in spending, more so in the health sector than other sectors. Throwing extra money at it is not the answer.

Fucking hell, the benefits bashers are out in force again!! I get universal credit yet also work incredibly hard trying to better myself in a different career since my husband fucked off and left me in the shit.., I barely get anything but it helps and I was previously on a bloody good wage as a teacher but the stress of that job caused me to have a breakdown and I almost took my own life… I am rebuilding my life and career at almost 40 and it’s bloody tough! Universal credit isn’t easy and I have to jump through bloody hoops, have to justify my entire life to strangers and still barely get by. Not a choice, it’s a necessity I hope to no longer need once I’ve passed my professional exams I’m currently studying for!