Further to Amy’s earlier post on wealth taxes.

Today the Financial Review reported on a new poll by SEC Newgate Research that showed almost two-thirds of voters would support income tax cuts funded by higher taxes on wealth. They also supported increased taxes on landlords with multiple investment properties.

Then distribution of private wealth in Australia is extremely skewed in favour of the rich, and it is getting worse. In August last year the Australia Institute published a report Wealth and inequality in Australia which outlined how wealth has grown in recent decades. It found the growing disparity between inequality of incomes and inequality of wealth is increasing the rich-poor divide in Australian society.

Capital gains on the wealth have been higher than wages, salaries and supplements for the whole economy. Those capital gains go towards increasing wealth inequality. The wealth of just the top 200 rich is now $668 billion or a quarter of annual GDP up from 8% two decades earlier.

Household wealth in Australia has increased from $4.4 trillion 20 years ago to $17.3 trillion now. Almost all of the increase was due to capital gains, very little out of household savings. So don’t let the rich try to say they got that way through hard work.

The rich could have achieved almost all of the incredible gain without getting out of bed yet they pay next to nothing by way of tax. That has to change.