Why Was a Wealth Tax for the UK Abandoned? Lessons for the Policy Process and Tackling Wealth Inequality

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2115346
AutoresHoward Glennerster (London School of Economics and Political Science, autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume41
Fascículo2
Páginas233-249
Data de publicação2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279411000602
OpenAlexW2118471267
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas28

The distribution of wealth is widening in many countries and with it the growing importance of inherited wealth. In 1974, a Labour Government came to power in the United Kingdom committed to introducing an annual wealth tax. It left office without doing so. Using the official archives of the time and those of a key advisor this paper traces both the origins of the policy and its fate at the hands of the civil service. It explores two related questions. What does this experience tell us about the role of the civil service in the policy process in the UK and what lessons might be learned by those wishing to tackle the issue of widening wealth disparities today

Civil service · Distribution of wealth · Economics · Economy · Government (linguistics) · Inequality · National wealth · Political science · Power (physics) · Process (computing) · Public economics · Public service · Service (business) · Tax policy · Tax reform · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies