Economist Gary Stevenson ‘humiliates’ GB News host in wealth tax debate
Economist Gary Stevenson ‘humiliates’ GB News host in wealth tax debate
Posted by popcornsosalty-678
Economist Gary Stevenson ‘humiliates’ GB News host in wealth tax debate
Economist Gary Stevenson ‘humiliates’ GB News host in wealth tax debate
Posted by popcornsosalty-678
27 Comments
Few governments see a wealth tax as working mainly because most of the members of those governments are wealthy themselves or they got elected thanks to the patronage /support of a wealthy person who tells them what to do. End of argument.
(edited to add – or they got elected thanks to the patronage /support of a wealthy person who tells them what to do.)
Closing tax loopholes for international corporations would be a big start. If they don’t want to pay tax here then they shouldn’t trade here
“humiliates”? Bullshit. He merely provided a strong and reasoned argument to the usual tired reason why taxation of the wealthy is not done anymore. He didn’t humiliate anyone. Bruce was fine.
Is Fiona Bruce the host or the opposition? Man she’s a terrible host.
Before anyone comes in and say that “the richest 10% pay 60% of income tax”, please [read this article](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-63635185) and scroll down, the richest does pay more income tax, but the poorest pay more in other taxes because they are flat. So in reality we don’t have a progressive tax system.
I love Gary but being able to make Camila Tominey look stupid is not headline news.
Gary’s first argument put to the audience was:
– The cumulative deficit since COVID is £1 trillion or £20k per head
– Britons are not £20k cash wealthier per head than pre-COVID
– Therefore the rich have stolen this money
This might be the most egregiously idiotic thing I’ve ever heard anyone say on QT which is saying a huge amount. It’s so inconceivably stupid it’s difficult to know where to begin. You don’t need any training in economics to know this.
The large post-COVID deficit represented borrowing for lockdowns and the pandemic and all associated spending, which did include cash transfers and subsidies to Britons to keep people from starving. However, the government spending in a deficit is not synonymous with citizens being made cash wealthier as a result – the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other. There was plenty of cash given out to people (furlough etc) but the purpose of it was to sustain people during lockdowns, not to give them excess wealth.
Gary is, as he always has been, relying on the average person’s economic illiteracy to grift and fraud his way into relevance. He didn’t have an answer to Fiona Bruce’s question about how wealth taxes have rarely ever worked either – just pivoted to another lie that the UK “used to have one” and hoped no one would call him out. He is just hoping the average person who pays for his Patreon or buys his book is dumb enough not to grasp what the words he uses means
Absolutely not.
Gary is not an economist; he’s a stock market trader with very specific knowledge in his field. However, the fact that he argues against fixing the system that created wealth inequality in the first place. Opting instead to simply say tax the rich—demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of economics.
Taxing the rich is a textbook example of treating the symptoms rather than addressing the root cause.
The reality is that this approach has already been tried in countries like France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands—only to be repealed later. Wealth taxes like these simply don’t work in the modern world because wealthy individuals can easily relocate.
If rich people leave the UK, or businesses don’t want to operate whilst paying taxes, isn’t the most obvious result, the very one that gets shoved into our heads with the “free market”, the invisible hand? Someone else will just take their place – I’m sure there are plenty of people willing to take a few million less than the guy who left
Has Gary understood the difference between income and wealth yet?
Has he realised that trusts pay a periodic charge of 6% every 10 years, and that all income taken from them is subject to UK income taxes / CGT etc?
Has Gary made a voluntary overpayment of tax himself?
He is confidently incorrect on pretty much everything.
I love these clickbait headlines – “owns”, “humiliates”.
Norway implemented one and immediately found out it doesn’t work. Land tax is feasible as it can’t be moved but any tax of “this guy has a company with IP worth X let’s tax him 1%” has 0% of working and will actively harm the country.
Poor v rich. Always has been an issue. Always will be an issue
Gary Stevenson is great at explaining economic topics that we just are not taught in school and he sees through the BS.
The existing government has raised wealth taxes and it resulted in a net loss to the treasury of £23bn, just in the case of capital gains tax.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1jlxzih/labour_capital_gains_tax_raid_blows_23bn_hole_in/
I think this is context worth adding in here. Because Gary often hand waves away questions about what specific taxes he is advocating for.
He says we need to get the public to demand wealth taxes, then work out the ‘how’
The problem is the government did raise wealth taxes and it raised either small or negative amounts. The ‘how’ is what needs to be very clearly spelled out.
Otherwise he’s just loudly demanding what the government has tried and hasn’t worked.
I think long term methods are far superior.
Wealth tax will increase the loss of uk millionaires we are facing.
While something like lowering the tax allowance would mean less free tax for government to spend in the short term.
But would kickstart the economy again through spending.
Cant just keep increasing tax…..
He’s not an economists and hasn’t humiliated anyone. He’s just the latest YouTube ‘sensation’ who’ll be forgotten about in a few months.
The idea you can go back to 50s era taxation is nostalgia driven policy, like opening up coal mines again. Globalisation has ensured it can’t happen, there are just too many options for internarional investment and avoidance to make it work.
Also post WW2 America (and the UK) could get away with it. Europe was in ruins. The only places to guarantee your safety from another war, were those countries with high tax rates. It was the premium you paid. Today there are equally good or better markets available to go stash wealth in.
When your argument against a wealth tax is, “they will leave”, number 1 thats not a proper defense and number 2 fuck em if they leave.
Id say he was humiliated when the host pointed out wealthy people don’t own the pension funds…
On today’s Reddit thread about the economy. A few okay folk and people giving their expert opinions on topics they know nothing about.
More news next week.
So many people are calling for others to be taxed more, that’s great, but once the gov gets used to that amount of tax income they will just move onto the next tax grab and the next and so on. This will never end and WILL result in everything getting more and more expensive, less affordable for regular folks.
A wealth tax will see all wealth leave the UK, taking potential job creation and output with it. It would only damage the economy and eventually reduce taxes (as the wealthy already pay an inordinate amount more than average earners).
It is similar, in practice, to private schools, in that the changes could in theory increase tax income, if nothing else changes. The problem is, in reality, it will mean a chunk won’t be able to afford private schools, some on the brink will close and many of the students will have to go to a state school which will end up losing tax revenue and increasing costs. It is a spiteful plan that has almost no chance of actually increasing tax income in any meaningful way, while also being far more likely to have horrible consequences.
People don’t realise how mobile wealth actually is, nobody will stay here if the outlook continues to get bleaker and bleaker, why would a wealthy person stay, to pay far more taxes into a failing system.
The only thing that the country needs is massive overhaul to the spending, it needs to be reigned in massively.
No he didn’t. Simply no. Watch the episode and see for yourself.
Misleading headline, I think his arguments were weak
I’d heard of him but never actually seen him talk until last night.
I agree with many of his points, but from all the talk around him, I was expecting him to be a better speaker. His delivery felt a bit lacking, a bit student politics
Rather than a tax on the person, we should tax the asset. They can leave the country but they can’t take their buildings or huge assets. Then for the likes of homes and buildings, if they are out of the country for more than 6 months, they immediately lose them. Make that law and watch them panic.
It’s easy to hate the rich. But do you have the courage to hate the poor?