Have Wealth Taxes Ever Actually Worked? | IEA Podcast

About this episode

The episode discusses the effectiveness of wealth taxes and the implications of recent government fiscal policies.

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Callum Price is joined by the IEA’s new Director General Lord Hannan and Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz. The episode covers the OBR’s admission that it underestimated the fiscal damage from the Government’s employer National Insurance rise, the banning of American commentators Hasan Piker and Usman Khan from entering the UK, and Zach Polanski’s podcast discussion with French economist Gabriel Zucman on wealth taxes. Lord Hannan argues that tax rises are always harmful to growth, pointing to the “triple whammy” facing employers from National Insurance hikes, the Employment Rights Bill, and minimum wage increases. The conversation turns to whether the OBR’s mandate should be reformed and whether a competitive market in economic forecasting would produce better results. On free speech, all three agree that banning the American commentators was petty authoritarianism, with Hannan and Niemietz both arguing that consistent application of free speech principles matters more than whether you agree with the speaker. Hannan raises the uncomfortable question of whether the liberal free speech consensus of recent decades was merely a…

People in this episode

Host: Callum Price

Guests: Lord Hannan, Kristian Niemietz

Topics covered

• wealth taxes
• economic forecasting
• free speech
• fiscal policy
• government taxation

Keywords

• wealth taxes
• National Insurance
• free speech
• economic growth
• fiscal damage

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute of Economic Affairs, OBR, Employment Rights Bill

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