Why taxation need not be a dirty word

A radical change to the way we tax wealth could benefit us all, says David C Stevenson.

A radical change to the way we tax wealth could benefit us all, says David C Stevenson.

Talk to economists (including many of the more conservative ones) and they'll admit to a passion for three taxes that don't currently raise significant sums for the UK exchequer: a carbon tax; tax on land value increases; and most controversially inheritance tax (IHT). They regard all three as fair, equitable and efficient. Non-economists tend to disagree particularly on the latter. Three arguments are advanced against IHT. The first is that it penalises hard work and long-term wealth accumulation. The second, that it is a form of double taxation "I've already paid my income taxes I don't want to pay even more tax on the same money". Third, it is widely viewed as being applied vindictively, with beneficiaries often forced to sell assets quickly to pay the IHT bill.

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David C. Stevenson
Contributor

David Stevenson has been writing the Financial Times Adventurous Investor column for nearly 15 years and is also a regular columnist for Citywire. He writes his own widely read Adventurous Investor SubStack newsletter at davidstevenson.substack.com

David has also had a successful career as a media entrepreneur setting up the big European fintech news and event outfit www.altfi.com as well as www.etfstream.com in the asset management space. 

Before that, he was a founding partner in the Rocket Science Group, a successful corporate comms business. 

David has also written a number of books on investing, funds, ETFs, and stock picking and is currently a non-executive director on a number of stockmarket-listed funds including Gresham House Energy Storage and the Aurora Investment Trust. 

In what remains of his spare time he is a presiding justice on the Southampton magistrates bench.