‘Time to tax tycoons’

BRITAIN: IDEA TO MAKE RICH PAY MORE TAX GAINS GROUND AMID COVID-19

Supporters of reform say the richest should still shoulder more of burden. London

In billionaire-friendly Britain, where the global coronavirus outbreak has hit hard, the idea of making the wealthiest pay more tax to help economic recovery is gaining ground.

Mass unemployment, bankruptcies and other potential shocks could hit the richest, but supporters of tax reform say they should still shoulder more of the burden. Britain’s wealthiest people have seen tens of billions of pounds wiped off their annual combined wealth – the first fall in a decade, according to the Sunday Times “Rich List”.

The respected ranking of the country’s 1 000 richest people found they had collectively lost £54 billion (R1.1 trillion) in the past few months alone.

But it still calculated their combined wealth at £743 billion. On the list were 147 billionaires, 89 of them in London – the highest concentration in the world.

Inventor James Dyson, known for his bagless vacuum cleaners as well as recently relocating to Singapore, topped the list for the first time, with an estimated wealth of £16.2 billion.

“The general rule, despite the changing fortunes of individual rich folk, is that money continues to rain upwards,” said Rowland Atkinson, a University of Sheffield professor and author of Alpha City: How London Was Captured by the Super-Rich.

“So it seems clear that those with plenty will more than survive the economic crisis generated by Covi-19,” he wrote on nonprofit media outlet The Conversation.

Atkinson argues that Britain’s wealthiest are “protected” by their connections to the ruling Conservative party and ability to tap government bailouts, as well as more questionable tactics.

Some billionaires have even been accused of trying to take advantage of public money during the health crisis via emergency government schemes and a loosening of regulations.

Greenpeace has criticised entrepreneur Richard Branson whom, it said, has not paid taxes in Britain for 14 years, for demanding a bailout to save his airline.

Meanwhile, the spectre looms large of another decade of austerity to mirror the period after the 2008 financial crisis.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, re-elected in December on a pledge to reduce regional inequalities, has spent tens of billions of pounds to cushion the virus fallout. –