More than 100 British-based millionaires, led by Gary Lineker, have written to Andy Burnham urging him to tax their wealth more, telling the new prime minister “we can afford it.”
Independent readers largely agreed, with almost four in five backing a wealth tax on the super-rich in our poll.
But their support in the comments came with a clear condition: close the loopholes first.
Time and again, readers set out what they’d need to see before trusting any wealth tax to work – exit taxes, tighter reporting requirements, and no room for tax advisers to help the wealthy dodge the bill.
Some pointed to modest schemes abroad as proof it can succeed if pitched right, while others questioned why any millionaire needs legislation at all when they could simply donate to HMRC today.
Here’s what you had to say:
Close every loophole first, then tax fairly
A wealth tax is a very good idea but not sufficient on its own. The government need to secure the tax base by legislation to:
A) Make sure that all UK citizens (wherever they choose to live) and all foreign citizens who live and/or own property in the UK are required by law to pay UK taxes unless they can prove that they pay an equal or greater sum elsewhere.
B) Make sure that all forms of wealth of all UK citizens and residents are properly and fully reported and recorded.
C) Levy an exit tax on the wealth of anyone who decides to exit the UK to avoid taxes.
D) Require all tax advisers, accountants and lawyers to be licensed by HMRC to provide tax advice, to obtain prior approval from HMRC for any schemes recommended to clients and to report on all tax avoidance activities by their clients. It is unacceptable that a whole industry of agents and advisers exists for the purpose of helping the wealthy avoid paying their taxes.
Once the tax base is secured then a well-designed, progressive wealth tax could raise a lot of revenue and counteract the rampant increase in inequality that already blights our society and is getting worse.
They could already donate to HMRC if they wanted to
Nothing stops millionaires visiting HMRC’s “Make a tax donation” page and taxing themselves until they are blue in the face. But no. What they really want is for others to get taxed. By the way, £24bn a year would be squandered by the government within months on new HS2s, aircraft carriers that don’t work in warm water, pay rises for train drivers and PPE-like scandals. But the resulting exodus of wealth from Britain would not be reversed for generations.