The wealth-tax argument map

Every objection, met with evidence.

Heard one of these arguments against taxing wealth? Pick it to read the prepared rebuttal and the official statistics behind it.

Discourages saving and enterprise By penalising accumulated wealth, the tax may deter saving, investment and entrepreneurship, weakening growth and job creation. 3 counters 37 sources 6 people
Capital flight A wealth tax will drive the rich (and their capital) to leave the country, shrinking the tax base rather than growing it. 5 counters 34 sources 7 people
Government spending is too high Public spending is already excessive, so any fiscal gap should be closed by cutting spending rather than by raising taxes — including a wealth tax. 1 counter 32 sources 5 people
Easy to avoid The wealthy can use trusts, foundations and cross-border transfers to shelter assets, making the tax hard to collect in full. 3 counters 23 sources 10 people
Living standards are at an all-time high Living standards have never been better in human history, so there is no need to raise any taxes — including a wealth tax — at all. 1 counter 23 sources 2 people
Tax something else, not wealth Rather than a wealth tax, the state should raise revenue some other way — income, business, consumption or inheritance — leaving accumulated wealth alone. 3 counters 18 sources 1 person
Costly to administer Assessing, auditing and enforcing an annual wealth tax demands specialist expertise and data, creating high costs for authorities and taxpayers. 3 counters 8 sources 4 people
Other countries repealed theirs Most countries that had a wealth tax have since scrapped it, which proves the policy fails in practice. 3 counters 8 sources 2 people
Statistics show no income inequality Cites figures showing income inequality is flat or falling to argue a wealth tax is unnecessary — conflating income inequality with the wealth inequality a wealth tax actually targets. 2 counters 5 sources 3 people
The rich already pay their fair share Cites headline figures — e.g. the top 1% pay around 28% of income tax — to argue the wealthy already shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden, so a wealth tax is unwarranted. 3 counters 5 sources 3 people
We already tax wealth enough The country already levies wealth taxes by various names, so there is no need to tax wealth any further; the existing arrangements are sufficient. 1 counter 5 sources 1 person
Forces sale of illiquid assets Owners whose wealth is tied up in a business or property may have to sell productive assets to pay the bill, harming firms and jobs. 3 counters 4 sources 3 people
Tax itself is the problem Taxation in general is harmful, so the state should tax neither wealth nor income; the right level of tax is as close to zero as possible. 3 counters 4 sources 3 people
Wealth is too hard to value Illiquid assets — private companies, art, property — are hard to value every year, so a wealth tax is unworkable and invites endless disputes. 2 counters 3 sources 3 people
Double taxation Wealth has already been taxed once as income, so taxing the resulting assets again is unfair double taxation. 3 counters 1 source 1 person
Faces legal challenge In some jurisdictions a wealth tax risks constitutional and property-rights challenges, causing prolonged litigation and uncertainty. 2 counters 0 sources 0 people
There is no proof of wealth inequality Argues that rigorous, joined-up evidence on wealth inequality is too scarce to justify a wealth tax — inequality was absent from mainstream growth theory for decades and good national wealth data is hard to come by, so the case is asserted rather than proven. Raised about the UK, but the same "we don't really measure it" claim is made of US and European wealth statistics. 1 counter 0 sources 0 people
We're relatively equal by global comparison Points to international wealth-Gini rankings to argue a country already distributes wealth fairly and so needs no wealth tax — e.g. the UK sits around 140th of 171, a little below Denmark and above Japan, with only ~31 countries more equal. The same "we're mid-table, so we're fine" claim is made for the US and across Europe. 1 counter 0 sources 0 people