Wealth Taxes Won't Fix Broken Britain

About this episode

The episode discusses the Bank of England's interest rates, the case against wealth taxes, and critiques of UK economic policy.

This week on the IEA Podcast, Lord Frost, Dr Kristian Niemietz and host Callum Price dig into the Bank of England’s decision to hold rates at 3.75% — and whether the Governor should still have his job after the near 10% inflation disaster of 2021-22. With three wildly different scenarios on the table and the spectre of rates hitting 5.5%, the question is whether the Bank is still too soft on inflation and too cosy with a Government that desperately needs good news. Then the team turns to wealth taxes. Kristian has published a new IEA paper demolishing the case for them — and the arguments are sharper than you might expect. Britain already raises more from wealth-related taxes than almost any OECD country. Wealth inequality has been broadly flat since 1990. And even the most optimistic wealth tax proposal would raise, at best, 1% of GDP — nowhere near enough to fund the endless list of promises its advocates attach to it. The real question is why this idea has consumed so much of the national conversation when it solves almost nothing. Finally, the Government’s plan to effectively ban traditional tumble dryers in favour of slower, less effective heat pump models. Is this net zero…

People in this episode

Host: Callum Price

Guests: Lord Frost, Dr Kristian Niemietz

Topics covered

• wealth taxes
• Bank of England
• inflation
• economic policy
• UK government
• tumble dryers
• OECD

Keywords

• wealth taxes
• inflation
• Bank of England
• economic policy
• UK government
• tumble dryers
• OECD
• Lord Frost
• Dr Kristian Niemietz
• Callum Price

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bank of England, IEA, EU

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