Taxing the Wealthy to Pay for Coronavirus

The BBC reports “There are indications that the coronavirus crisis has already increased income inequality, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies reporting in June that the bottom 10% of earners were the most likely to have jobs in sectors that had shut down or could not be done from home.

A 1% per year tax rate could be imposed for five years on wealth of more than £1m per two-person household, the Wealth Commission said.

That would be equivalent to raising VAT by 6p or the basic rate of income tax by 9p for the same period.

One-off taxes have been used after major crises before, including in France, Germany and Japan after the Second World War and in Ireland after the global financial crisis, it said.”  Read the full article