Wealth tax will not work, says Scottish Secretary
Ian Murray told an audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that the policy would not work.
Speaking to comedian Matt Forde, the Labour minister said he 'wished' it worked but suggested wealthy people would leave the country.
Some within Labour, including former leader Lord Neil Kinnock, Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan and former equality minister Anneliese Dodds, have backed the idea.
It has also become popular among unions and other left-wing parties, including the Greens and Jeremy Corbyn's new, unnamed party.
On Thursday, Mr Murray said there was 'no silver bullet' to the economic issues facing the country, saying 'if you pull one leaver you have to push another' in a reference to tax rises and public spending cuts.
He said while some UK Government decisions have been 'unpalatable', 'things would have been even more unpalatable' if they did not make tough choices.
Asked if a wealth tax could be a solution to the issue, the Scottish Secretary said: 'No, it doesn't work. The Laffer curve (a theory showing the relationship between taxation and a government's revenue) is there for everyone to see.
'So, yes, you can bring in a wealth tax, because it might make you feel principally better.
'You might bring in £200 million but the cost of doing that would be huge because there is just flight, whether we like that or not.'
Mr Murray said the tax had failed in other countries which, he said, had since gone on to roll back their decisions.
He said: 'Every single principal decision we have to make has got to be on the basis of does it raise more money?
'Is it fair? Is it equitable? And will it resolve the situation?
'If the answer to any of those questions is no, we should not do it.
'So the wealth tax, and honestly, the wealth tax has been spent about 500 times over already for every single issue – just doing well tax, it doesn't work.
'I wish it did, but it doesn't.'
Mr Murray added that the 'only real palatable option' was to grow the economy.
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