Political Misdirection

I was listening to the Today Debate on R4 about who should pay more tax. Zack Polanski pointed out that Spain, Switzerland and Norway all have wealth taxes in place. That was the cue for Jeremy Hunt to glide in with a neat bit of political conjuring. With great solemnity he announced that Spain’s wealth tax does not raise much, and he left it hanging in the air as if that settled the question – a tidy little economic full stop.

Spain does not raise much because Spain does not have much at the very top. It is not a global financial centre. It does not have a City packed with hedge funds, private equity barons, non dom wealth and billionaire family offices stitched into every expensive postcode. Spain’s wealthy are a light scatter. Britain’s are a dense cluster.

Using Spain’s yield to imply a UK wealth tax would be pointless is like sounding the depth of a paddling pool and declaring the Atlantic must be the same. The argument only works if you pretend the UK looks like Spain. It doesn’t. Britain has one of the highest concentrations of ultra wealthy individuals anywhere. London is effectively a global vault with buses.

And while Hunt was busy dismissing tax rises, he revealed the real intent: welfare reform. In other words, take it from those who have nothing left to give, because his party long ago positioned itself as the parliamentary arm of the wealthy. Protect the fortunes at the top, squeeze the support at the bottom. Dress it up as “tough choices”, but the direction of travel is always the same.

Which is why honesty matters. If politicians cannot be straightforward about the basic facts of the country they claim to govern – who holds the wealth, who carries the burden, who can afford more and who cannot – then they should not be in politics at all. Public life demands clarity, not sleight of hand.

So Spain was waved about like a stage prop, in the hope nobody would notice how little it proves. Spain raises little because its wealthy population is small. Britain’s wealthy population is enormous.

Hunt was not offering analysis. He was offering cover. And once you follow the sequence, the trick becomes obvious.