Taxing property and shares as if they were salaries would raise £16bn a year for the cash-strapped Treasury.
Analysis of data on the 540,000 wealthiest individuals in the UK – the top 1% – shows how decades of low taxes on capital gains, a type of income mainly available to the wealthiest in society, is creating a new breed of “super-gainers”.
Bringing those taxes back into line with income taxes would redress this balance, The Guardian says. Currently income is taxed at a maximum of 45%, while capital gains tops out at 20% for shares and 28% for property.
The proportion of earnings that are declared as capital gains by the top 1% has ballooned from 3% in 1997 to 13.3% by 2018.
Labour has indicated it would increase taxes on earnings made from owning shares and investment properties, although the party has yet to set out detailed plans.
