Subscribe now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | ACAST | YouTube | RSS
In the second episode of our mini-series on how to fix the UK’s tax system, Helen is joined by Stuart Adam and Ben Zaranko to explore one of the most contentious areas of taxation - savings and wealth.
Why do people who earn through investments often pay lower taxes than those earning a salary? Why do business owners and landlords sometimes end up both undertaxed and overtaxed? And could an annual wealth tax ever work in practice?
This episode unpacks how the UK taxes savings, dividends, capital gains and inheritances, revealing the tensions at the heart of our system - and what a fair, efficient approach to taxing wealth might really look like.
Zooming in: discussion questions
These are a set of questions designed for A Level economics students to discuss, written by teacher Will Haines.
1. How has the growth in wealth in the UK compared with the growth in incomes in recent decades?
2. What might be the effects of aligning overall rates of tax (income, capital gains, and corporate tax) on the effectiveness of the tax system?
3. Based on the discussion in this episode, what are your views on the role of inheritance tax in the economy? Provide economic reasoning to support your perspective.
Host
Helen Miller
Helen joined the IFS in 2007. She has almost two decades of experience analysing UK fiscal policy and providing trusted advice to policymakers.
Participants
Stuart Adam
Stuart is a Senior Economist working in the Tax sector, and focuses on analysing the design of the tax and benefit system.
More from IFS
Understand this issue
Policy analysis
Academic research
