Wealth taxes will starve the economy

Britain's wealth is just about the only thing left to tax by a desperate government, says Matthew Lynn. But if it does, it will end in disaster.

With each passing year, the oil industry has to keep searching for fresh energy reserves in ever more remote and dangerous places. In a similar way, politicians determined to preserve and even expand an already massive state sector are now having to search out new territories they can raid for revenues. The latest target? The huge deposits of accumulated wealth stored by British families.

Some form of wealth tax now looks like a real possibility in Britain. The trouble is that, if it happens, it will be a catastrophe. It will quickly end up being imposed on all middle-class families, and it will deter the small businesses that need to be encouraged if the economy is ever to start growing again. If we tax wealth, we'll just end up having less of it.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.