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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 34m

The issue isn’t how you tax a lawyer with a £300,000 salary - we do that already. The issue is how you tax a fortune in the (say) £50,000,000+ pound range in a meaningful way.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 36m

I think the deeper issue is accumulated massive wealth and - relatedly - power. A Norway style tax is a reasonable redistribution, but doesn't materially affect someone with a billion dollars.

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Reposted by Nick Harkaway

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 18h

...but the fundamental error here (as with many other articles blaming fiscal framework and/or OBR) is that these are 2nd order issues.

Ultimately, it's fiscal sustainability (as judged by markets short-term that's the constraint. The UK needs some combination of higher growth and higher taxes...

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Reposted by Nick Harkaway

Girl’s Own advice @girlsown.bsky.social · 16h

We are sorry to hear you have failed to pass your examination, and can only advise you to try again. We do not at all agree with your idea that “the only thing that can be done for you is to run away to London and try to get on the stage” nor do we see how that would help you.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1h

*politically, not poli. Autocorrect having a field day today.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1h

A lot of things that work in Switzerland do not work the same way here. Referendums, for example! But yeah, anything that smacks of a deal is poli tricky, I suspect. Yet that’s inevitably what happens: tax structures become arcane and two sets of accountants deal.

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Reposted by Nick Harkaway

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · Oct 25

I have released three new prints. This is one of them.
They are all available now: tomgauld.com/shop

A print of a cartoon by Tom Gauld.
A view of the International Space Station. A cat in a space suit floats outside. An astronaut within the station looks out of a window and says "In? But I just let you out."

12 300 1.8K

Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1h

There’s an extremely annoying conversation about what is a tax that works vs what is one that is conceptually satisfying.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1h

The Swiss have a “Lump sum” tax option which is calculated not against wealth but annual expenditure - so if you live large you pay a lot of tax. I rather like that idea, and I wonder if it’s just more likely to catch mega-wealth than wealth taxes are.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1h

Yeah. The point is, I think, that in all three cases the wealth tax plus other taxes work out kind of ordinary. That’s not a reason not to do it, but they’re not transformative.

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 2h

And two regions of Spain seem not to charge the wealth tax at all, including Madrid? In other words they way they’ve put levied the tax without causing a ruckus seems to be not asking the mega wealthy to pay much of it. Which tallies with the £2bn in revenue vs UK’s proposed £24bn.

How Spain put up wealth taxes – without chasing away the billionaires

Amid calls for Rachel Reeves to bring in a new levy for the super-rich, Madrid offers lessons for policymakers

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 2h

The Norway example is quite interesting. Their tax tax starts very low (assets of £125k) and increases only by a fairly small increment at assets of, what, £1.5m? It’s presently a hot potato, but I suspect that’s somewhat confected.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s....

‘People are so angry’: how wealth tax became a battleground in Norway’s election

Issue creates clear dividing line between left and right, as populists target voters with vow to scrap levy

www.theguardian.com

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