Against a wealth tax practical
Easy to avoid
The wealthy can use trusts, foundations and cross-border transfers to shelter assets, making the tax hard to collect in full.
- 5 counters
- 22 sources
- 10 people
The counters
Repeals were about bad design The taxes that were repealed had low thresholds, leaky exemptions and poor enforcement — the failures were of design, not of the underlying idea. Valuation is a solved problem Tax systems already value estates, capital gains and property; banding, self-assessment with audit, and de-minimis thresholds handle the hard cases. Raises real revenue A tax on the largest fortunes can fund public services without raising taxes on low- and middle-income households. Broadens the tax base Adding a wealth tax diversifies revenue beyond income and consumption, making the fiscal system less reliant on volatile sources. Limits dynastic wealth Taxing large fortunes slows the entrenchment of inherited advantage and supports a more meritocratic society.Copy-paste rebuttal Drop a sourced reply where this argument shows up
Reddit / long form
You're making the "Easy to avoid" argument against a wealth tax. Avoidance is a design problem, not a law of nature — the taxes that leaked had low thresholds, leaky exemptions and poor enforcement. Close those: broad bases, audited self-assessment, exit rules and de-minimis thresholds are exactly how modern tax systems already value estates and capital gains. No tax collects 100%, but a well-designed wealth tax on the largest fortunes still raises real revenue without touching low- and middle-income households. "They'll avoid it" is an argument for designing it well, not for leaving wealth untaxed. Learn more: https://wealthtax.now/arguments/avoidance-evasion/
X / Bluesky / short form
You're making the "Easy to avoid" argument against a wealth tax. Avoidance is a design problem — broad bases, audited self-assessment and exit rules fix it. No tax collects 100%, but a good one still raises real revenue. https://wealthtax.now/arguments/avoidance-evasion/
Where it's been said
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The economist billionaires fear: this is how we get a wealth tax“Number one, you need to make sure that there is no way to avoid the tax. And tax avoidance, it's not a law of nature. It's man-made. It's when lawmakers introdu”
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Who benefits from tax loopholes?“they put loopholes in the system that mean rich people don't pay them and it ends up being paid by working people”
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Rishi Sunak's taxes – the REAL story“Number one is because very wealthy people like Rishi Sunak, most of their wealth is in assets, and in many cases, most of their income from wealth comes in the ”
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Taxable & Non-Taxable Income“some senior members of government might be close within their families to some level of tax avoidance”
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How they get our Assets #Shorts“income tax avoidable for the rich inherent stocks avoidable for the rich”
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Who Actually Pays Taxes?“the way the tax system is designed it is very possible for people such as Rishi Sunak who generate huge amounts of income from wealth to legally avoid... well f”
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The Rich Are Getting Richer - What Can We Do About It? T.Y.T with David ShusterRaised as a counter-argument to rebut. “i know people out there will be looking we'll be looking at me and saying you're going to bring a taxi and the richest will avoid it and you're going to hit me ”
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Telling MPs to Tax the Rich on the BBCRaised as a counter-argument to rebut. “can you make it work or can rich people hide their wealth well that's the whole point of a wealth tax is it is actually very hard to hide your wealth”
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Social Mobility & HomelessnessRaised as a counter-argument to rebut. “they bring in a taxi stick a load of loopholes in it”
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In My Opinion: We NEED A Wealth Tax - BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast with Rachel BurdenRaised as a counter-argument to rebut. “the laffer curve which basically says that the higher you tax people there is a point at which you then start to accrue less or fewer tax receipts you don't get”
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The Rich are getting even Richer - @conversationofmoney podcast“richer families they maybe know how to avoid inheritance tax which is many ways to legally avoid it and richer families often do avoid it”
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Gary Destroys Billionaire Defender - on Cristo's talkRADIO Political Panel“the ultra super most elite in our society because they are the ones who would hire the accountants and the lawyers and the ones who if push came to shove would ”
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Autumn Budget Analysis 2021 @conversationofmoney podcast“governments bring in taxes on the rich they put in loopholes and the super rich get avoided and in the end ends up falling in the middle class”
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UK Millionaires - Tax us Please??? Gary on Times Radio with Mariella Frostrup“the most important thing is that it's not evaded by the very very rich”
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PANDORA PAPERS: Why don't politicians close tax loopholes? - TalkRadio TV with Kevin O'Sullivan“the fact is the super rich they they they pay very low rates of tax because they can can can um they they pay for good tax advice that lets them know how to do ”
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National Insurance Rise - Punishing the Poor? LBC NEWS with Philip Chryssikos“ordinary working people who are increasingly being squeezed by tax while the rich pay nothing they're understandably going to look for ways around this to pay l”
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How growing BILLIONAIRE wealth affects YOU - Gary on LBC with Clive Bull“these people they've got the best tax accountants in the world working for them and they will try and dodge any taxes that we bring in”
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Why are BILLIONAIRES growing MORE wealth? Gary on LBC News with Martin Stanford“the big problem is the rich have got the best accountants and they will try and dodge the taxes”
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Wealth: what it is & how it differs from Income“capital gains, inheritances, trusts... these methods of getting income, income you get from wealth its much much easier to avoid taxes when you get your income ”
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COVID-19 & INEQUALITY: Why the rich are getting richer but the economy will NOT recover“these are all taxed in different methods and are very easy to legally avoid under that current tax system”
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Who pays for this crisis: Rishi Sunak or you? Gary on talkRADIO with Ian CollinsRaised as a counter-argument to rebut. “the intake was actually the overall tax intake was slightly less because people just found ways to avoid it”
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Why Jeremy Hunt doesn't pay stamp duty - Gary on BBC Radio 4 Today Show with Nick Robinson“there's no point bringing in a wealth tax which has loopholes in it because if you put loopholes in your tax system then the people who will exploit those looph”