The Tax Justice Network said trillions could be raised with a ‘featherlight’ tax on the 0.5% of richest households, copying a current Spanish tax
Governments around the world copying Spain’s wealth tax on the super-rich could raise more than $2tn (£1.5tn), according to campaigners calling for the money to help finance the climate transition.
As a growing numbers of countries consider raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy, the Tax Justice Network campaign group said in a report that evidence from a “featherlight” tax on the 0.5% richest households in Spain could help raise trillions of dollars globally each year.
The Spanish government, under the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, introduced a temporary “solidarity” wealth tax in late 2022, which is collected in 2023 and 2024, on the net wealth of individuals exceeding €3m (£2.6m). It is estimated to apply to the richest 0.5% of households.
Because this is a tax on assets and not income it seems to me that there could be some unfair situations, for example you inherit a property that is not so easy to sell and are now taxed on it, or you have shares/stocks in your startup company and are now taxed on it even though you haven’t sold them (and quite possibly can’t sell them).
I believe it would be better to tax income while closing some of the loopholes like allowing borrowing money against stocks and properties.