Wealth tax is the only fair way to raise revenue to properly run the nation - Yorkshire Post Letters

One has to sympathise with Jayne Dowle (TYP, February 19), that for the average person Council Tax is quite high enough.

Yet council outgoings - particularly on children's needs and social care (disclosure: I am an octogenarian) - have risen substantially, a truth practically ignored by this government which for years has reduced payments to councils in real terms. Whenever tax rises are mooted we squeal ever more loudly. Electioneering seems almost to pivot on income tax.

A factor conveniently overlooked by many is that the wealth of this country is stashed in property, which is a disproportionately large slice of our GDP and which seriously hampers government planning.

Both major parties dread the mention of 'wealth tax', yet it is the only fair way to raise revenue to properly run the nation.

The vast bulk of property is in the hands of relatively few families and individuals - indeed we have not progressed a great deal since feudal times. Since so few people own so much land we have a permanent 'seller's market'. This explains why house price inflation is notorious. In the news every day.

Like many, I paid thousands for my home and now it's worth hundreds of thousands. Where's the logic? Have I earned all that?

So some form of wealth tax is really the only way out of this British dilemma. The first step is to set a fair rateable value on each and every property and to create many new bands above H. Current values were set in 1991 and are now way out of order.

My friends have an old farmhouse, by no means posh, but fairly roomy and it is rated G. As they say, Buckingham Palace is only in the next higher band. Many owners of G band homes will recognise this. There is obviously scope for many more bands to be associated with higher council tax.

Successful business people and large landowners count on public services proportionally more than ordinary families and logically should be making a fairer contribution. Hence Council Tax is one issue for reform, which would not adversely impact the average hard working family.

More controversial would be a wealth tax on individuals. I am not qualified to propose how such a system might work, but it could be something similar to income tax with an initial 'free allowance' and then escalating in bands. For example, the free allowance could be two million pounds, the next million at five per cent etc.

The vast majority of ‘normal’ citizens would not be affected at all and the very rich could well afford it. It would be designed that way.

I have concentrated on property, though I believe wealth in general should bear more tax, particularly as it tends to be passed from one generation to the next, rather than earned by the current generation.

I should point out that I certainly have no objection to individuals earning good money, but I disapprove of young people who have never worked a forty hour week driving round in fancy cars and then have their parents buy them a house for cash as soon as they marry - or even before.

Politically, wealth tax is a hot potato but it is one which needs grasping boldly. We need it to climb out of the many years of government underfunding.