We need a land and wealth tax to replace income and transaction tax.

Itismehonest

cepheus wrote: »

the vast majority is actually owned by a wealthy core of just 1,200 aristocrats and their relatives

Here is a selection

Here is the list of the largest landowners in Britain

The Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
The Ministry of Defence 750,000 acres
The National Trust 550,000 acres
The Pension Funds 500,000 acres
The Utilities: water, electricity, railways 500,000 acres
The Crown Estate 384,000 acres
The Duke of Buccleuch 277,000 acres
The National Trust for Scotland 176,000 acres
The Duke of Atholl's trusts 148,000 acres
The Duchy of Cornwall 141,000 acres
The Duke of Westminster 140,000 acres
The Church of England 135,000 acres
The Invercauld and Torlisk Trusts 120,000 acres
Alcan Highland Estates 116,000 acres
The Duke of Northumberland's Estates 110,000 acres
The Earl of Sealfield 101,000 acres
The Portland Estates 95,000 acres
South Uist Estates 92,000 acres
The RSPB 90,000 acres
Co-op Farms 90,000 acres

from http://ezinearticles.com/?Who-Owns-Britain?&id=6929637

antrobus

cepheus wrote: »

Isn't that what you mean here?

Well it was the OECD that said such things were unpopular. "Particularly unpopular" was the phrase used I believe. You could ask the OECD why they think it would be unpopular.

Anyway, on the subject of 'political difficulties', you should probably take note of the contents of the Parliamentary Standard Note on Land Value Taxation SN6558, which was only published a week or so ago, so you may not have caught up with it yet. Introducing a LVT would, of course, generate a number of winners and losers, "with most of the losers in the more affluent and often
more politically marginal areas of England".

Ahh, marginal seats.

PaulF81

Yep. Poor people will get to continue to gripe about how rough life is, despite forgetting life isn't a free ride for all.

Rotor

We already have a wealth tax, it's called inheritance tax

cepheus

A mansion tax can stop this mountain of wealth crushing us
Labour barely breathed on the super-rich when in power. In backing a mansion tax, they are at last offering an alternative

Wealth taxes only deliver 5.9% of revenues, mostly in council tax (which often falls on renters, not owners). Inheritance tax brings in just 0.5%, only paid by 3% of estates, halved since Labour unwisely doubled couples' exemption: it's the most avoided of all. A mansion tax only offers £2bn – worth having but no great redistributor of the £10,300bn in private hands. My generation, buying homes in the 1970s, has seen the value of property soar above inflation every year: unearned, untaxed wealth caused by scarcity from failure to build. In the last bubble, prices rose £50 a day between going to work and coming home. Those assets perpetuate privilege: 70% of professionals inherited money. Taxing wealth is better than taxing incomes as it doesn't distort incentives for employment or profit-making, while under-taxed property encourages speculation and under-occupation. Mansions can't hide in Monaco.

grizzly1911

cepheus wrote: »

A mansion tax can stop this mountain of wealth crushing us
Labour barely breathed on the super-rich when in power. In backing a mansion tax, they are at last offering an alternative

Wealth taxes only deliver 5.9% of revenues, mostly in council tax (which often falls on renters, not owners). Inheritance tax brings in just 0.5%, only paid by 3% of estates, halved since Labour unwisely doubled couples' exemption: it's the most avoided of all. A mansion tax only offers £2bn – worth having but no great redistributor of the £10,300bn in private hands. My generation, buying homes in the 1970s, has seen the value of property soar above inflation every year: unearned, untaxed wealth caused by scarcity from failure to build. In the last bubble, prices rose £50 a day between going to work and coming home. Those assets perpetuate privilege: 70% of professionals inherited money. Taxing wealth is better than taxing incomes as it doesn't distort incentives for employment or profit-making, while under-taxed property encourages speculation and under-occupation. Mansions can't hide in Monaco.

What do you think the limits should be for a wealth tax?

IronWolf

We already have one of the most effective and sly taxes on wealth, it's called inflation.

I vehemently oppose all forms of wealth tax bar inheritance tax, it penalises those who are responsible and save for the future.

N1AK

grizzly1911 wrote: »

What do you think the limits should be for a wealth tax?

Wealth taxes and income taxes, in my opinion, both play a part in a balanced tax system. Wealth taxes alone discourage careful financial management and prudence; better to spend everything as you earn it than have it slowly taken away from you for keeping it saved. Income taxes alone penalise those who are working and earning over those who are handed an inheritance to live off.

An issue with putting 'limits' on taxes is that unless it is done as part of a whole package including spending it makes no sense.

grizzly1911

N1AK wrote: »

Wealth taxes and income taxes, in my opinion, both play a part in a balanced tax system. Wealth taxes alone discourage careful financial management and prudence; better to spend everything as you earn it than have it slowly taken away from you for keeping it saved. Income taxes alone penalise those who are working and earning over those who are handed an inheritance to live off.

An issue with putting 'limits' on taxes is that unless it is done as part of a whole package including spending it makes no sense.

I agree with you points except, the real significance to the many, of receiving an inheritance to live off.

How many actually receive an inheritance of such magnitude and if they do they would need to convert that wealth into income. Which will attract consumption taxes even if they can take avoidance arrangements.

The inheritance itself should (may) have been taxed before receipt also.

CLAPTON

IronWolf wrote: »

We already have one of the most effective and sly taxes on wealth, it's called inflation.

I vehemently oppose all forms of wealth tax bar inheritance tax, it penalises those who are responsible and save for the future.

why do you say that inflation is a wealth tax any more than say on income?

for the vast majority of people their house is their major asset; this has benefitted massive due to inflation and completely tax free.

certainly anyone with high capital gains suffers from the inflation effect; very unfair but this only affects a relatively small number of pretty rich people.

property stamp duty is a pernicious tax as it discourages labour mobility and more efficient use of property.