New Thinking Series: How do you tax the rich and powerful?

A People's History with John McDonnell

The last decade has seen wages and benefits cut or frozen while the assets and incomes of the rich have grown hugely, with our tax system guaranteeing the rising wealth of the super-rich in particular.

UK private wealth has been growing substantially over time. There is currently no comprehensive tax on ownership of wealth in the UK, but as with other countries there are many taxes which relate to wealth.

This event will discuss proposals for Wealth Taxes; a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT); and more transformative tax measures to tackle today's rampant inequality and economic crises.

The Wealth Tax Commission recommends a one-off wealth tax on high-wealth couples would pay at 1% a year for five years – raising £260billion. A Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) - a super tax levied on the £8 trillion-a-day financial markets could be a significant part of a just taxation system

Presented by:

Arun Advani - Associate Professor in Warwick University’s Economics Department, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a Visiting Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, and a Commissioner at the Wealth Tax Commission.

Keval Bharadia - A political economist specialising in transformational approaches to development justice. Keval has consulted for international NGOs including Oxfam, Christian Aid and Stamp Out Poverty.

As was requested during the session we are including a link to Keval Bharadia's report and talk, where you can find the figures mentioned and more infomation on Financial Transaction Taxes and fair taxation policies.

We are also sharing a link to the Wealth Tax commission mentioned during Arun Advani's presentation and an intestesting Tax Simulator Tool which shows how much revenue could be raised from reforming the taxation of wealth.

The New Thinking Series is a series of discussions in the House of Commons, hosted by John McDonnell MP and Claim the Future, which present innovative ideas to shake up the status quo.

Featured image John McDonnell speaking as Shadow Chancellor at the Community Wealth Building conference in Preston on 8th February 2018. Photo credit Sophie Brown under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)