The case for Labour to introduce a wealth tax has never been stronger | Phillip Inman

A 2% levy on fortunes above £100m – with no exemptions – could begin to reverse decades of rising inequality

A ndy Burnham and Wes Streeting have sought to blunt the Green leader Zack Polanski’s popularity with a hint that a government run by either of them, should they win a Labour leadership race, would favour a tax of some kind on the wealthy.

With SpaceX’s stock market launch on Friday sending Elon Musk’s fortune to the stars, it is clear to most people that the world’s super-rich are running away with the lion’s share of the spoils and there is not much left for anyone else.

So what about a billionaire tax, one that would be workable and fair?

Research by academics, which has intensified in recent years, has revealed just how unequal western societies have become.

They can show – with charts and graphs – that while 99% of us are paying, in total, 40% to 50% tax on our incomes, billionaires are paying a rate equating to 25% at most. As for wealth, the situation is much worse.

Gabriel Zucman is one of the leading lights determined to show why a wealth tax is needed and how it can be implemented.

While much of his study focuses on the US, where the data is more comprehensive, it also embraces the UK.