IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/fistud/v42y2021i3-4p485-507.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ways of taxing wealth: alternatives and interactions

Author

Listed:
  • Andy Summers

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the role of a wealth tax in the context of the UK's existing taxes on wealth. First, I discuss several ways in which the UK could be said to tax wealth already, and I set out two possible directions for reforming these taxes, highlighting policies that are merited under either approach. Second, I consider whether and under what circumstances a broad‐based tax on the ownership of wealth – a ‘wealth tax’ – could be justified instead of or in addition to these reforms. Third, I address how a wealth tax should interact with other taxes, focusing on concerns regarding ‘double taxation’ and (conversely) proposals for an alternative minimum tax based on wealth. I conclude that there is a large degree of consensus amongst existing proposals to reform our current taxes on wealth, and that most of these reforms would be required whether or not a wealth tax is introduced as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Andy Summers, 2021. "Ways of taxing wealth: alternatives and interactions," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 485-507, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:42:y:2021:i:3-4:p:485-507
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-5890.12285
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12285
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-5890.12285?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arun Advani & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Behavioural responses to a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 509-537, September.
    2. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2007. "Bequest and Tax Planning: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1801-1854.
    3. Alan J. Auerbach, 2019. "Tax Equivalences and Their Implications," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 81-107.
    4. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies & Mirrlees, James (ed.), 2011. "Tax By Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553747.
    5. Sarah Perret, 2021. "Why were most wealth taxes abandoned and is this time different?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 539-563, September.
    6. Cedric Sandford, 1987. "Death duties: taxing estates or inheritances," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 8(4), pages 15-23, December.
    7. Hills, John & Bastagli, Francesca & Cowell, Frank & Glennerster, Howard & Karagiannaki, Eleni & McKnight, Abigail, 2013. "Wealth distribution, accumulation and policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51284, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Hills, John & Bastagli, Francesca & Cowell, Frank & Glennerster, Howard & Karagiannaki, Eleni, 2015. "Wealth in the UK: Distribution, Accumulation, and Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198729402.
    9. Glen Loutzenhiser & Elizabeth Mann, 2021. "Liquidity issues: solutions for the asset rich, cash poor," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 651-675, September.
    10. Stuart Adam & Helen Miller, 2021. "The economic arguments for and against a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 457-483, September.
    11. Tania Burchardt & Abigail Davis & Ian Gough & Katharina Hecht & Donald Hirsch & Karen Rowlingson & Kate Summers, 2020. "Living on Different Incomes in London: Can public consensus identify a 'riches line'?," CASE Reports casereport127, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    12. Glennerster, Howard, 2012. "Why was a wealth tax for the UK abandoned?: lessons for the policy process and tackling wealth inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 42582, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Bill Robinson, 1989. "Reforming the taxation of capital gains, gifts and inheritances," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 32-40, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Glen Loutzenhiser & Elizabeth Mann, 2021. "Liquidity issues: solutions for the asset rich, cash poor," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 651-675, September.
    2. Advani, Arun & Summers, Andy, 2022. "Measuring and taxing top incomes and wealth," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1403, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    3. Arun Advani & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Behavioural responses to a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 509-537, September.
    4. Emma Chamberlain, 2021. "Who should pay a wealth tax? Some design issues," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 599-613, September.
    5. Arun Advani & Helen Miller & Andy Summers, 2021. "Taxes on wealth: time for another look?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 389-395, September.
    6. David Burgherr, 2021. "The costs of administering a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 677-697, September.
    7. Stuart Adam & Helen Miller, 2021. "The economic arguments for and against a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 457-483, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arun Advani & Helen Miller & Andy Summers, 2021. "Taxes on wealth: time for another look?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 389-395, September.
    2. Arun Advani & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Behavioural responses to a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 509-537, September.
    3. Nick O'Donovan, 2021. "One‐off wealth taxes: theory and evidence," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 565-597, September.
    4. Stuart Adam & Helen Miller, 2021. "The economic arguments for and against a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 457-483, September.
    5. Margit Schratzenstaller, 2023. "Behavioral Responses to Inheritance Taxation. A Review of the Empirical Literature," WIFO Working Papers 668, WIFO.
    6. Emma Chamberlain, 2021. "Who should pay a wealth tax? Some design issues," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 599-613, September.
    7. Stephen Daly & Helen Hughson & Glen Loutzenhiser, 2021. "Valuation for the purposes of a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 615-650, September.
    8. Sergio Beraldo & Enrico Colombatto, 2023. "Do People Really Dislike Wealth Taxes more than Other Types of Taxes? Evidence from a Survey-Experiment Representative of the Italian Population," CSEF Working Papers 671, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    9. Advani, Arun & Summers, Andy, 2022. "Measuring and taxing top incomes and wealth," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1403, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    10. Arun Advani & Helen Hughson & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Revenue and distributional modelling for a UK wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 699-736, September.
    11. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2023. "Taxing the wealthy: the choice between wealth and capital income taxation," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 39(3), pages 604-616.
    12. Sarah Perret, 2021. "Why were most wealth taxes abandoned and is this time different?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 539-563, September.
    13. Glen Loutzenhiser & Elizabeth Mann, 2021. "Liquidity issues: solutions for the asset rich, cash poor," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 651-675, September.
    14. Elinder, Mikael & Erixson, Oscar & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Inheritance and wealth inequality: Evidence from population registers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 17-30.
    15. Arun Advani & George Bangham & Jack Leslie, 2021. "The UK's wealth distribution and characteristics of high‐wealth households," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 397-430, September.
    16. Frank A. Cowell & Philippe Kerm, 2015. "Wealth Inequality: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 671-710, September.
    17. Paola Profeta & Simona Scabrosetti & Stanley Winer, 2014. "Wealth transfer taxation: an empirical investigation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 720-767, August.
    18. Martina Lawless & Donal Lynch, 2018. "Scenarios and Distributional Implications of a Household Wealth Tax in Ireland," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(02), pages 27-31, August.
    19. European Commission, 2013. "Tax reforms in EU Member States - Tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability – 2013 Report," Taxation Papers 38, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    20. Simon Halphen Boserup & Wojciech Kopczuk & Claus Thustrup Kreiner, 2018. "Born with a Silver Spoon? Danish Evidence on Wealth Inequality in Childhood," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 514-544, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:42:y:2021:i:3-4:p:485-507. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-5890 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.