Maths of UK wealth tax
Could someone please direct me to where there is some actual figures on how much a wealth tax could feasibly bring in? I know some work from Gabrielle Zucmans been done on the French tax but even then it’s not like turn around figures (he proposes over 20bn optimistically from people with net worths over 100m)
I’ve done some crappy/rough napkin maths on the Uk but to my knowledge the amount that would actually be brought in is pretty minor - 2% of all 157 billionaires wealth equates to 13bn~ - seems like a lot but given the yearly income tax rates for the treasury (1.2-1.3tr) seems a lot smaller - & the cost of general change (e.g nationalising water would cost roughly 100bn) it’s quite minor in the grand scheme of things
I am more skeptical than previously having now understood international OECD tax agreements that have come into play this year/2015 - pillar 1 around capital mobility of where services are taxes (closing google’s loopholes) introduced via the gLobe system where companies need to legally report revenues in their national jurisdiction - & pillar 2 introducing a minimum 15% tax globally for corporations with various different stop mechanisms - & effectively reducing the use of tax havens. But this still is not bringing in the numbers I would have thought (from academic papers it seems to be forecasting bringing in 240bn - which whilst is significant it’s not when you think about its global distribution.)
My first worry is about the scale of revenue that can be collected being significantly lower than what is promised & the implications for the level of change which can be made. & my second worry is that nationally I’m not sure how this can be enforced given all the evidence points towards international cooperation being the only way to actually enforce wealth tax/legal changes
Also please challenge me on this if there is a perspective I’m not seeing - my heart wants to be in this!