Survey finds strong support for a high threshold wealth tax

78% of respondents supported (and 9% opposed) the introduction of a wealth tax of 1% on wealth above £10m and 73% favoured (with 12% opposed) one of 2% on wealth over £5m. Both Labour and Conservative voters, taking part in the survey, were receptive to the idea.

But support falls to 53% when a wealth tax “payable on all individual wealth above £500,000 and charged at 1% a year for five years” is proposed. YouGov notes that this policy could potentially raise £262bn in the UK according to the Wealth Tax Commission.

In December 2020, the Wealth Tax Commission published ‘a wealth tax for the UK’ report, which concluded that an annual wealth tax would be much more difficult to deliver effectively than the one-off wealth tax. They estimated that one-off wealth tax would raise a total of £262bn at a rate of 5% over £500,000 per individual or £80bn at a rate of 5% over £2 million per individual, payable at 1% per year over five years (after allowing for behavioural responses and administrative costs). We wrote the report up at the time here.

YouGov also polled people on Labour’s proposal to end non-dom status. Here opinion was more uncertain.

Asked if they favour “Ending 'non-dom' tax status and replacing it with a 'temporary resident tax programme' which provides certain tax advantages to those who would have qualified for non-dom tax status, but only for up to five years” (understood to be Labour’s policy) 48% said they would support this. While only 10% were opposed a whopping 42% were unsure – much higher than uncertainty over a wealth tax. Support for the proposal was above 50% among both Conservative and Labour voters.

The poll also sought views on increasing capital gains tax, finding support for this among Labour voters but not Conservatives.

Asked whether they favour “raising the rate of capital gains tax – tax which is paid when selling assets such as property and investments – so that it is equal to the rate of tax paid on income from work”, 41% of respondents agree that the levy should be increased and 30% disagree. Labour voters back it 53%-21% while Conservatives are opposed by 36% to 44%.

In 2020, the Office for Tax Simplification estimated that alignment of Capital Gains Tax rates with Income Tax rates could theoretically raise an additional £14 billion a year for the Exchequer.

Although Labour leader, Keir Starmer, argues that ‘’those with the broader shoulders should pay their fair share’’, he has not said what specifically he proposes. In an interview with Sky News, he said in order to fund social care ‘‘those that earn their money in ways other than work should pay their own share’’ and ‘’all options (including wealth tax) should be considered’’.

You can read YouGov’s report here.

The Wealth Tax Commission report ‘a wealth tax for the UK’ can be viewed here.