Should we tax the rich more?

Taxation is necessary in order to provide public services like roads, education and health care. But as the world's elderly population grows, and the demand for public services increases, countries will need to reassess how they tax. Where should the money come from?

Daily Watch: mind-stretching short films throughout the working week.

[faintanomaly]

Better government spending would also greatly increase the available funding for things like healthcare.
Sadly no one looks at the people calling the shots, first, anymore...

[oxmkcrh]

Wealth tax is bad. We have it Norway. The result: Rich people are leaving the country in droves and moving to Switzerland. Consumption tax is also bad. It makes everything we buy more expensive, and they are regressive, which means that they hit poor people the hardest. Taxing income is the best and fairest way to tax.

[prathamdalwadi]

The UK does not have low income tax! 😂

[daniel]

If the tax is too high, the rich will just leave the Uk and go somewhere cheaper. If tax is too low, then the government won’t have enough money. You have to get it somewhere in the middle.

[david.ricardo]

"as healthcare technology improves the cost of healthcare is also going to rise" wtf? technology usually makes things cheaper

[graham]

The problem I see with a land tax is that it's still kind of a consumption tax as everyone needs somewhere to live. It will drive up rents for non-landowners. Plus most wealthy people only have a small percentage of their overall wealth in land, most of it is in other assets (e.g. stocks, bonds). It seems like this would hurt the middle class the most as they probably have the highest percentage of their wealth tied up in the land they live on.

Now an overall wealth tax that takes into consideration all forms of assets would be a great idea, though it would be extremely difficult to implement. I'd image most wealthy people would simply keep their assets in some tax haven. So again, this might just end up hitting the middle class the hardest. Getting wealthy people to pay their fair share of taxes is hard.

[sivakrishnat]

Government efficiency is what we need. These politicians and bureaucracy spends money like it's grows on 🌲 trees

[KarstenMoerman]

low income tax rates in the UK? come now. what an over simplified and inaccurate statement!

[quintessenceSL]

One underrated aspect of the land value tax is decreased cost of enforcement. No more reams of receipts and ledgers to keep track of. You could end the IRS.

[chrismason]

Your whole basis for this argument is that we need more tax revenue because of an aging population. You dont if the aging population planed for the future and saved.

[gmarthews]

Amazing that this has no comment on tax havens and their growing effect on this issue.

[javiertrevino]

Problem is that the money that was supposed to go to services it's often used to personal enrichment or for projects that don't go anywhere or for luxuries for the president and governors such as unnecessary luxury cars and furniture and experiences that are being paid by the citizens which is totally offer the cost of basic services is often exaggerated so that the bureaucrats can have careers and live off people's work.. I don't think we should have anarchy but lower taxes are very in my opinion

[mdyoulm]

If the government wants to charge more taxes, they need to prove first that they're going to use it clean and wisely.
Can they?

And about the VAT, I think it's one of a good options because the government can control it like exempting tax on necessaries and charge more in fancy-products.

[eloiseharrison]

I thought we have relatively high income tax? The other videos I've watched whilst trying to understand tax, say we have a very high income tax as our brackets go up to 45% (whereas in examples I've seen, they compare it with America, who never see 40% tax rates)

[alexfernandez]

1:00 "Countries with low income taxes, such as the UK, tend to have stronger economic growth."
Me: *Laughs in American*

[juozasmartinkus]

When regular people hear, more tax on rich, they should get ready for higher taxes .

[Michael-bmll]

The Government doesn't need to bite the bullet. They bite no bullet. It's the citizens that have to bite the bullet.

[RobbyK]

They just won't buy houses and will send their money out of the country.

[leodinh]

me wondering how the freak they can call themselves the economist

[calebkonecek]

How does an improvement of healthcare technology indicate an increase in cost? Wouldn’t it be going down? And how would this represent a percentage increase? Wouldn’t the other aspects of tax increase as well?