4 days ago
Who are the real wealth creators? And does inheritance tax really put off entrepreneurs?
David Biesterfield opposes a wealth tax by arguing that 'better public services depend on the encouragement of wealth creation, not its disincentivisation' (Letters, 27 May). Where is the evidence for this? We have been facilitating 'wealth creation' for most of the last 45 years via huge tax cuts for the mega-rich, allowing CEOs and bankers to 'earn' millions in salaries and bonuses, permitting buy-to-let landlords to charge exorbitant rents, and relentless privatisation purportedly to create a dynamic enterprise economy.
Yet our public services are in a state of utter destitution. So where, or to whom, has all the wealth gone? Has it flowed upwards, rather than trickled down in the manner that Conservatives promised us?
Mr Biesterfield may envisage wealth creators as multimillionaire business tycoons and plucky, swashbuckling entrepreneurs, but many of the wealthy are merely appointed to senior posts in business and finance, rather than creating industries themselves.
The real wealth creators are the hardworking people who do the daily job of making and selling the products and services that earn the profits, and ultimately fund the huge salaries and dividends enjoyed in the boardroom. Pete DoreyBath
Can we put to bed this idea of double taxation on inheritance that David Biesterfield propounds. Most inheritance is based on the sale of a house that has accumulated in value without anyone having had to do anything to create the increase. The community is perfectly entitled to take a share of this wealth to help others less fortunate create actual wealth for the benefit of DorrilNetherthong, West Yorkshire
David Biesterfield asserts, without evidence, that inheritance tax disincentivises wealth creation. Perhaps he does know someone who was going to start a business and thought: 'But wait a minute, if it's really successful and worth, say, £200m when I die, my heirs will only inherit £120m because of inheritance tax. I'm not going to bother!' I suggest that such people are in a minority, however. It's not a line of argument I've ever seen on Dragons' Den, for CosgroveMacclesfield, Cheshire
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