Burnham tax plans spark investor rush to bank capital gains July 2, 2026 Entrepreneurs and savers are rushing to bring forward the sale of their businesses or take profit on investments in anticipation of Andy Burnham’s rumoured plans to fund his ambitious devolution agenda by equalising capital gains tax with income tax. Tax and financial advisers reported a sharp uptick in client enquiries on the likely Prime Minister’s [...]
Here’s how a levy on assets could work, just don’t call it a wealth tax June 18, 2026 Debate around wealth taxes have become a meme, far too ideological and not technocratic enough. But there is a way to raise a levy on assets without distorting the economy, says Tim Sarson Last week I was scanning the list of topics I’d written about for City AM in the last two years and there [...]
An emboldened – or desperate – new government will look to wealth taxes June 10, 2026 Wealth taxes are climbing back up the political agenda as the Labour party begins the process of reinventing itself for a post-Starmer era. Wes Streeting thinks he’s found “a wealth tax that works” by hiking capital gains tax while Andy Burnham is flirting with a land value tax that would naturally hit wealthy areas the [...]
Even Zack Polanski’s favourite economist admits wealth taxes don’t work June 8, 2026 Gabriel Zucman has told Zack Polanski’s podcast that wealth taxes don’t work – so why are they both so keen to bring them back? Asks Kristian Niemietz “The historical experience with wealth taxation, by and large, is a failure. Pretty big failure.” Who said that? Was it an economist from a Tufton Street think tank? [...]
‘Economically reckless’ – Streeting calls for wealth tax ‘that works’ in pitch for leadership May 21, 2026 Wes Streeting has called for a “wealth tax that works” as the former health secretary sets out his stall ahead of an expected Labour leadership contest later this year. Streeting resigned from the cabinet earlier this month and has confirmed that he would stand in a contest to oust Sir Keir Starmer, though he has [...]
Griffin’s Citadel to swerve New York after mayor’s wealth tax campaign May 6, 2026 Hedge fund juggernaut Citadel has diverted investment earmarked for New York to its Miami headquarters, founder Ken Griffin has said, after the city’s socialist mayor filmed a video promoting a new ‘pied a terre’ wealth tax outside the billionaire’s $285m penthouse. Griffin told CNBC that because of mayor Zohran Mamdani’s social media clip, his $67bn [...]
Gary Stevenson is predictably wrong about wealth taxes May 6, 2026 Wealth taxes, as promoted by the likes of Gary Stevenson and Zack Polanski, are a terrible idea. Let’s make Britain rich instead, says Kristian Niemietz Wealth taxes are currently all the rage. Over the past few years, a massive hype has built up around the idea: 75 per cent of the public say they support [...]
Wealth tax would ‘create unfairness’, IFS says April 27, 2026 Annual wealth taxes would create “complexity, distortions and unfairness”, a new Institute for Fiscal Studies report has said, as policymakers have been advised to consider the trade-offs involved in addressing forms of inequality. The IFS’ Deaton Review, which involved research conducted over six years, found that an annual levy on wealth would have “serious drawbacks” [...]
Spare us Zack Polanski and Zohran Mamdani’s empty progressivism April 25, 2026 Mamdani’s victory in New York proves it’s time to take Zack Polanski and the Green Party seriously. That means recognising how much their policy platform depends on wishful thinking and fantasy economics, says Eliot Wilson Harold Wilson, perhaps Labour’s wiliest Prime Minister, supposedly coined the phrase “a week is a long time in politics”. It [...]
Zack hits back – but I stand by what I said: The Green Party is dangerous March 19, 2026 After yesterday’s column on Zack Polanski (“I wouldn’t vote for his party in a million years“) the Green Party leader hit back, suggesting a lack of compassion on my part. Being firmly of a free-market persuasion I’m used to having my motives questioned, but I stand by my view that Polanski’s economic policies (wealth taxes, [...]