{"id":7828,"date":"2021-01-26T13:40:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T13:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/?p=7828"},"modified":"2021-01-26T13:40:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T13:40:54","slug":"taxing-wealth-a-viable-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/newsletter\/taxing-wealth-a-viable-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxing wealth \u2013 a viable option?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>An independent body of tax experts has set out the framework for a one-off wealth tax.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Will the Chancellor be tempted?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i>\u201cWe have a responsibility, once the economy recovers, to return to a sustainable fiscal position.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8230;said the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his November statement, during which he also highlighted that the government was spending \u00a3280 billion this financial year on coping with the Covid-19 pandemic.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A wealth tax is one way that has been suggested to repay at least part of the massive debt that has accumulated. The idea was given a boost in December when a 125-page report detailing how a wealth tax could operate was published by the Wealth Tax Commission, which is independent of government. Its main proposals were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The tax should be a one-off, levied at the rate of 5% on individual wealth above \u00a3500,000.<\/li>\n<li>The definition of wealth would include all assets. So, for example, there would be none of the special reliefs for pensions, farmland or business assets that currently apply under inheritance tax.<\/li>\n<li>The valuation date would be on or shortly before the first formal announcement of the tax, to prevent post-announcement forestalling actions. The value of housing and land would in the first instance be calculated by HMRC\u2019s Valuation Office Agency (VOA).<\/li>\n<li>In practice the tax payment would normally be at the rate of 1% (plus nominal interest) for five years.<\/li>\n<li>Deferred payments could be made by asset-rich, cash-poor individuals. For pensions, payment would be drawn from the tax-free lump sum, when benefits are drawn.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Commission estimated that such a tax would raise a net \u00a3260 billion. It would be payable by 8.25 million people, meaning it would reach many who pay income tax at no more than basic rate.<\/p>\n<p>Rishi Sunak said in July, <i>\u201cI do not believe that now is the time, or ever would be the time, for a wealth tax\u201d<\/i>. However, as several commentators have noted, the Commission\u2019s report has given the Chancellor cover to increase revenue from two related taxes he currently has under review \u2013 capital gains tax and inheritance tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>The value of tax reliefs depends on your individual circumstances. Tax laws can change. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-7828\" data-postid=\"7828\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-7828 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An independent body of tax experts has set out the framework for a one-off wealth tax.\u00a0 Will the Chancellor be tempted?\u00a0 \u201cWe have a responsibility, once the economy recovers, to return to a sustainable fiscal position.\u201d &#8230;said the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his November statement, during which he also highlighted that the government was spending [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":33,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}