The social meaning of wealth taxes

Abstract

Wealth taxes are back on the political agenda of developed democracies, but are subject to contestation. Given increasing inequality, middle classes may support wealth taxes so to redistribute wealth from the rich. However, asset appreciation has become central to the realization of life chances, so a political programme of ‘wealth taxes’ may appear threatening. This paper asks: what does the prospect of increased wealth taxes mean to the middle classes? Combining a relational theory approach with a qualitative focus group study in the United Kingdom, the paper highlights two especially salient meanings of wealth taxes: (1) that wealth is considered as a form of security that one builds through surplus income earned through work (thereby conflating income and wealth); which can then be (2) used to sustain an intergenerational family through the relations of inheritance. Consequently, wealth taxes take on a meaning as a double tax that penalize hardworking families.

Keywords:

• tax
• wealth
• inequality
• focus groups

Acknowledgements

The research was conducted in collaboration with Tax Justice UK, and we wish to thank them and their collaborators for their contributions to the project. We are very grateful to the four anonymous reviewers, whose suggestions have improved the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval statement

This project received ethical approval from the University of Sheffield (reference number 034286).

Additional information

Funding

This research project received funding from the University of Sheffield Internal Knowledge Exchange Scheme and the Friends Provident Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Liam Stanley

Liam Stanley is Research Fellow at Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield.

Tom McGrath

Tom McGrath is Knowledge Exchange Officer at Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield.

Tom Hunt

Tom Hunt is Deputy Director at Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield.