A wealth tax could pay towards the costs of the pandemic

A one-off wealth tax could raise substantial revenue and help fill the hole in public finances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the Wealth Tax Commission has said.

In a report published by the commission the authors say: ‘A one-off wealth tax payable on all individual wealth above £500 000 and charged at 1% a year for five years would raise £260bn; at a threshold of £2m it would raise £80bn. This would be paid by individuals whose total wealth after mortgages and other debts and after splitting the value of shared assets such as a jointly-owned family home exceeded the tax threshold and only on the value of wealth above that threshold. To be clear a wealth tax levied at 1% above £500 000 would require a couple to have net wealth of more than £1m before any wealth tax would be...