Tax the top 10% super-wealthy to pay for financial crisis caused by Covid

THE answer to the financial crisis caused by Covid-19 is surely to slap a wealth tax on the top 10% of the population.

Around 80% of the UK’S total personal wealth of £15 trillion lies in homes and pensions, so a property capital gains tax of 10% could be levied on all homes sold.

Some of the resulting money could be used to abolish stamp duty and inheritance tax on property, leaving £500bn over the next 25 years to repair the public finances.

Taxing pension pots is more of a problem. Holyrood already has the power to impose such a tax, but Nicola Sturgeon won’t go there.

The fact is a vast number of Scots work for the Government and look forward to a defined-benefit public sector pension.

Funding such a pension at even £25,000 per year requires a pot of more than £1m, so many medics, teachers and other civil servants are already millionaires on their public sector pension alone.

The alternative is leaving the young with a debt-laden future. As they are already hugely disadvantaged financially relative to older generations, having them bear this extra burden is manifestly unfair.

But the problem with a wealth tax, as with most taxes, is that to ensure a worthwhile public benefit it has to start at a relatively low level.

So, what is hardest for the politicos to bear? A grim silence from the next generation, or the shrieks of today’s public sector? DR JOHN CAMERON

St Andrews, Fife