Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a one-off wealth tax as proposed by the UK Wealth Tax Commission in its final report of 9 December 2020.

The Wealth Tax Commission has no connection or link to the Government. The Commission’s report offers one perspective about how taxes might be raised in future if necessary, but it is clear that introducing a new one-off wealth tax in the UK would be a hugely complex undertaking and the amount of revenue raised would be highly dependent on the final design of the tax.

The UK does not have a comprehensive, single wealth tax, but it does have several taxes on assets and wealth. These operate across many different economic activities, including the acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets, and income derived from assets. As set out by the Wealth Tax Commission, the UK’s taxes on wealth are on par with those of other G7 countries.

The UK’s progressive income tax system means the top 1% of income taxpayers are projected to have paid over 29% of all Income Tax, and top 5% are projected to have paid over 50%, in 2019-20.