Pro-tax fanatics the Tax Justice Network got an inordinate amount of coverage today for their report claiming that a “global wealth tax” which copies that of Spain would raise £1.5 trillion. Spain’s applies to those who own assets over €3 million and can go as high as 3.5%. The tax was implemented in 2022 and raised a measly €632 million…
Along with fawning coverage from the usual suspects, the BBC had a representative from the campaign on this morning for a soft-touch explainer in which he was allowed to promote his agenda without substantial pushback. The report itself dismisses the obvious fact that people will leave if you implement a wealth tax as a “myth.” Helpfully ignoring that in 2022 Spain had net external migration of 727,000 – the highest in 10 years…
Naturally the Green Party jumped on the crank proposals to demand a replica in the UK. Wealthy Norwegians left the country after it imposed a wealth tax. The same goes for China. Sweden abandoned its wealth tax after it destroyed revenue. Spain’s combination of personal capital income taxes and wealth taxes is now resulting in marginal tax rates above 100% – which means that, by saving, the value of wealth shrinks. Literally crushing growth…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”