Calls for the government to implement a wealth tax have grown in recent times with proponents arguing that a tax on the wealthiest will act as a silver bullet to the nations dire economic situation.

IEA Director of Communications Annabel Denham penned a piece for CapX saying that: “punitive levies on the rich can be counterproductive and encourage avoidance, evasion and capital flight”. Denham cited examples of  European countries which had wealth taxes but later abandoned them because of low tax yields and fiscal flight.

Annabel Denham also praises Labour for their restraint over calls for tax hikes: “the opposition at least acknowledges the absurdity of spending a year supporting the private sector through loans and furlough, only to hand it the bill as it emerges from hibernation”.

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