A narrow Yes win came with a debate in which the most-respected voice on each side was oddly cautious. The top Yes case asked for a tax aimed "only the super wealthy", insisting that people on £75k "are wealthy" only in a strange notion; it was a qualification as much as a campaign.
Other Yes voices were briefer. "Tax wealth not work" and "tax top down, not bottom up" were the slogans, and one voter wrote that wealth at the top end "just grows & grows" while the rest get poorer. Another asked who would decide what counts as rich, calling for "a hard definition" beyond the emotive cry. None of the Yes opinions addressed the flight of wealthy taxpayers or the revenue record of wealth taxes.
The most-respected No case supplied the flight argument: "the wealthy will leave the uk and then where will we be?" Others followed it, one weary voice sighing that it is "a cycle" of taxing and losing the rich, another citing Norway and arguing that countries that tried wealth taxes abandoned them. The No side also turned to spending, urging cuts to foreign aid, welfare and politicians' pay, and one objected that the question lumps pensions in with benefits.
That puts the result inside the argument over whether the UK's fiscal gap is closed by taxing more or spending less. The No voters answered it with the second, and several suspected the question itself was rigged.
So Yes carried the vote while No carried most of the argument, with its warning that the people to be taxed can simply go.
102 Opinions
We are starting to get in a cycle now. Tax wealthy people lose them. Tax more to make up for taxes lost then lose them. Does anyone ever learn?
No, the focus should be on stimulating growth by cutting taxes and energy tariffs. Relieving operating pressures on businesses, encourage investment as well as cutting State spending, including welfare
Much wealth is created via hard work and although I don’t agree with taxing pensioners (I’m 61) the wealthy will leave the uk and then where will we be? Why folk assume that most wealthy folk have inherited it and not worked hard for it is beyond me
Yes but with a caveat - this should target only the super wealthy. People have a strange notion that those earning above, say £75k, are wealthy. They're just not poor.
Keep taxing earners and you'll find they stop working or if can leave altogether. Cut benefits,overseas aid etc . It's not the time to be generous
A comprehensive overhaul of government spending including taxation and benefits system is required
I think there are better places to start. Stop the boats Stop the handouts Stop foreign aid Scrap net zero
Cut the fat: politician's pay and benefits first; then quangos. A wealth tax will lead to exodus of wealth creators. CGT increase will lead to less assets being sold & possibly loose money. Cutting taxes will stimulate growth and actually increase the total tax take, but the bunch of Fabians in charge cannot understand basic economics and want communism by the back door.
No. Taxing wealth more creates less entrepreneurship and leads to fewer jobs and lower wages. It also leads to millionaires and billionaires leaving the uk and relocating elsewhere. There should be no more taxes introduced to cover the rising costs of welfare benefits. The whole welfare benefits system needs to be replaced and updated.
Poorly worded question. We should all be paying less tax, without penalising pensioners or the genuinely needy by cutting benefits to lazy spongers, illegal migrants and reducing foreign aid.