Wealth Taxes Are Pointless While Tax Havens Exist

Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨okwithmydecay@leminal.space⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

https://novaramedia.com/2026/03/13/wealth-taxes-are-pointless-while-tax-havens-exist/

Over the past few years, wealth taxes have reentered public debate. Popular economists like Gary Stevenson, Grace Blakely and Faiza Shaheen, and now political leaders like Zack Polanski, argue that the UK must tax the richest more aggressively if it hopes to repair crumbling public services and address spiralling inequality. They’ve managed to persuade 68% of the public. But the wealth tax debate often misses a crucial problem. Wealth today does not simply sit inside national borders, waiting to be taxed. It moves; it hides.

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Comments

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Flamekebab@piefed.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I guess we’ll just have to continue doing nothing and see if things improve.

Or perhaps by establishing the principle in law we can then build on it to take various measures to combat the problem. A solution doesn’t need to be perfect to be better than ignoring the problem.

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- Dry_Monk@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  :fiddles with phone: Where’s the dang über-upvote button on this thing?
  
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- yakko@feddit.uk ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  You’re spot-on, this is a straight up nirvana fallacy
  
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sem@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Pointless you say? That’s convenient

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sepiroth154@feddit.nl ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Damns are useless so long as oceans exist.

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meathorse@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Except often a good number of their assets exist in the real world. Businesses, buildings & land. These can be taxed regardless of their global location.

We can find fun new ways to apply horrendous taxes that penalize this behavior but reduce them for those who behave in a decent way. Maybe we start taxing turnover on companies use the Irish double sandwich-whatever trick to minimize tax. Either they play ball and contribute to society or they GTFO and someone else takes their slice

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HumanPenguin@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The UK is one of the world’s biggest tax heavens.

We just allow foreign property ownership to provide a tax heaven from other nations taxation.

The UK introducing a wealth tax on both UK wealth and foreign owned property. Would be the first step to ending tax heavens,

And as soon as the billionaires etc decide to move their wealth from property. Capital gains tax is assessed.

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- l_isqof@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  It’s technically a tax haven, but for the UK tx dogder it is really a bit of heaven.
  
  These territories have really taken the piss beyond belief, yet the public discourse has been dominated by Brexit and migration for 15 years.
  
  It’s what happens when a few clowns own all the media and real journalism is dead
  
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ladel@feddit.uk ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m a bit confused my this article. I’m pretty sure Novara are pro-wealth tax, and the article itself just seems to be an advert for some podcast. I’d like to see what they’re proposing, but I don’t like podcasts.

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TheGoldenV@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Whelp, guess we poors just better do nothing then. Glad we got that all figured out.

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Rentlar@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
If it hides, we go to find it. Countries like the US, Canada, Ireland etc. choose to recognize as valid these elaborate schemes involving shell games in multiple countries, instead of insisting on their formula. But what would be better is a Canada-Europe agreement on a standardized taxation and deduction system that includes minimum wealth taxes applied across all member nations. Sketchy accounting is nothing new, we just have to agree to deal with it together.

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