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What are the Barriers to Taxing Wealth? The Case of a Wealth Tax Proposal in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2021

RAJIV PRABHAKAR Open the ORCID record for RAJIV PRABHAKAR [Opens in a new window]
RAJIV PRABHAKAR*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA email: rajiv.prabhakar@open.ac.uk
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Abstract

Over the past decade there have been repeated calls for the greater taxation of wealth. These calls have had little impact on policy. There has been a global trend to reduce or abolish taxes on wealth. The contrast suggests that it may be better now to explore how taxes on wealth may be made a reality rather than designing new tax proposals. What are the barriers to tax wealth? This paper addresses this by conducting a case study of a high profile plan for introducing a one-off wealth tax in the UK. It identifies a tyranny of the status quo, framing and the policy process as key barriers to tax reform. It uses thematic analysis to study how the plans for a one-off wealth tax were discussed in the media and the UK Parliament. This paper argues that there were important shortfalls in both the way the case for a wealth tax was framed as well as the engagement with the policy process. It claims that a stronger framing would have discussed wealth inequality in greater depth and there was a need for a less equivocal case to Parliamentarians.

Keywords

wealth taxWealth Tax Commissionwealth inequality
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 700 - 717
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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