# FILE NAME: 00001426.soc
# TITLE: Should the UK introduce a wealth tax? [2a58febb5fd0be41b1249c1b5314bbac]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
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# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 2
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - “A wealth tax is needed in the UK. It should be introduced for people earning over £150,000 per year or for people who have more £1m of assets to their name. It should not be applied to lottery winners. It would reduce wealth inequality and provide additional revenue to the government which could be used to upgrade and improve public services. It would be very difficult to implement wealthy people would find ways to get around such system. It would be right because the very wealthy have often inherited wealth and have not needed to work at all. It is right that the wealthy contribute to the greater good. It would encourage them to support the less well off and possibly also to work for an income. The far right consider that the poor should remain poor and they should remain rich to better support them, this is a poor argument. We should seek to move to a more equal society without penalising those who work hard to generate income for the benefit of wider society.”
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - A wealth tax would help to reduce wealth inequality, but in the UK, a large proportion of the population are struggling to get by and are relying on government handouts to survive.  The government would generate more revenue from a wealth tax and this would benefit society as a whole by making it possible for the government to increase spending on public services. Many wealthy people and businesses use tax loopholes to avoid paying tax, this can be avoided with a wealth tax as it is difficult to hide wealth. A wealth tax would discourage some wealthy people from working and creating jobs for others as the tax would reduce the incentive to work. A wealth tax would not be popular with people of all income groups as they may feel that they are being unfairly penalised. While we agree that a wealth tax would be beneficial to society as a whole, we believe that the government should carefully consider the wider implications of a wealth tax and the effect that this would have on the economy as a whole before proceeding with a wealth tax.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - The group came to the consensus view that we should not introduce a wealth tax, because it would not be fair, and because wealthy people would simply find ways to avoid paying it. We were quite surprised at how much debate was generated from this one simple question.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - A wealth tax should be introduced for those with over £1m of assets to their name.  This would be fair and would reduce the wealth gap in the UK.  The tax should be used to improve public services.  It should be introduced gradually over a number of years to allow the wealthy to adjust their affairs.
4: 1,2,4,3
1: 2,1,3,4