The richest 10%

Hints from Nick Clegg that he wants to see a ‘time-limited contribution’ in extra tax from ‘people of considerable wealth’ echo the call from the Glasgow Media Group and political campaigner Peter Tatchell for a one-off wealth tax averaging 20% on the richest 10%, who own in total £4trn of net wealth.

However, the ONS statistics from which the figures are taken show nearly half of that wealth is the value of accrued pension benefits, and the tax would affect all households with total wealth over £1m.

This means a teacher about to retire on an index-linked pension of £20,000 a year and owning a £350,000 house on which the mortgage had been paid off would be charged to the wealth tax, potentially facing a bill of £200,000.