Why a UK wealth tax would fail

Key points

• The government needs to raise more revenue without alienating taxpayers.
• The recent increase in Norway’s wealth tax rate is driving its wealthiest individuals to leave Norway and take up residence in other low tax countries.
• The OECD has warned that wealth taxes disincentivise entrepreneurs.
• The UK government’s constant tinkering with the remittance basis applicable to non-domiciles is proving a disincentive to non-domiciles choosing to move to the UK.

Since the start of the new tax year the UK population has been experiencing one of the highest tax burdens since the end of the Second World War. The Conservative government continues to try to balance the books and get the country’s burgeoning debt under control and sees taxes as the primary way of achieving its aims.

The furlough scheme (including the unrecoverable £16bn amount of fraud) and general cost of the pandemic still weighs heavy on the UK...