Kate E Pickett, David Taylor-Robinson , 2025-04-14 09:31:00
- Kate E Pickett, professor of epidemiology1,
- David Taylor-Robinson, professor of public health and policy2
- 1Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK
- 2University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
- Correspondence to: K E Pickett kate.pickett{at}york.ac.uk
The UK’s health and social care services are increasingly strained by rising demands and widening health inequalities—in life expectancy, infant mortality, mental health outcomes, childhood obesity, early childhood development, rates of children entering care, educational attainment, vaccination coverage, and more. Our NHS needs “resuscitation,” with a £37bn shortfall compared with peer countries.1 New data show that 4.5 million children in the UK, more than 31%, are in relative income poverty.2 The government has decided to cut welfare benefits for people with disability,3 with the minister for intergovernmental relations defending the cuts by saying you can’t “tax and borrow your way out of the need to reform [the] state.” This is in the world’s sixth largest economy, where private fortunes continue to grow. Could taxing wealth be a viable approach to address these critical challenges and promote equity across the population?
In simple terms a wealth tax is a tax on a person’s or a business’s assets, such as their cash and bank holdings, land, and other real estate. …