A new wealth tax in the UK, to support the NHS and social care, cannot be ruled out, following suggestions from the US to introduce a new charge on billionaires, says Blick Rothenberg’s Nimesh Shah
US senator Bernie Sanders unveiled a plan to tax ‘obscene wealth gains’ made by billionaires during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ‘Make Billionaires Pay Act’ would tax 60% of the increase in a billionaire’s net worth during 2020. And it could happen here. The government has looked at wealth taxes in the past and many will remember when it put a levy on the banks.
It is a novel suggestion by Mr Sanders to tax the increase in someone’s wealth, although the 60% rate appears incredibly penal. The suggestion is that the proposal is aimed at the ultra-wealthy who have benefitted from the pandemic through an increase in their wealth, such as the founders of the giant US technology businesses, as more people have abandoned the streets and flocked online.
