How to fix wealth taxes

In the second episode of our mini-series on how to fix the UK’s tax system, Helen is joined by Stuart Adam and Ben Zaranko to explore one of the most contentious areas of taxation - savings and wealth. Why do people who earn through investments often pay lower taxes than those earning a salary? Why do business owners and landlords sometimes end up both undertaxed and overtaxed? And could an annual wealth tax ever work in practice? This episode unpacks how the UK taxes savings, dividends, capital gains and inheritances, revealing the tensions at the heart of our system - and what a fair, efficient approach to taxing wealth might really look like. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership 00:00 - Introduction 3:46 - What is wealth? 8:20 - What are we trying to tax? 13:15 - Skill, luck, effort & rents 23:35 - How to support risk taking? 31:21 - The benefits of a reformed system 41:17 - What is a wealth tax? 43:00 - Practical difficulties with wealth taxes 48:22 - Conceptual concerns with wealth taxes 52:30 - International experience of wealth taxes 56:10 - Inheritance tax 1:03:37 - Conclusion