Are the richest 1% of society contributing their fair share? And
will taxing them more stall much-needed growth? Christopher
Alkan navigates the political minefield of high-level taxation
Robin Hood wouldn’t have approved of the trend in tax policy
over recent decades. Taking from the rich to give to everyone
else has fallen out of favour, especially in Britain and the US.
Since the early 1950s the top rate of income tax has tumbled in
the US from above 90% to 35%. And a mix of different types of
income means many of the super-rich pay an overall rate less
than that. In Britain, too, the levy on the rich has halved
since peaking in the 1970s at 83%. And while HMRC reports that
the share of total tax paid by the top 1% in the UK has
increased since 1999, tough fiscal times mean politicians on
both sides of the Atlantic have been casting a covetous eye over
the bulging wallets of the wealthy. While the UK’s Conservative-
Liberal coalition recently edged the top rate of income tax
down, there have been other prop