ROB ROSE: Wealth tax no Covid cure
It’s an enticing idea – a wealth tax on the rich to boost SA’s desperate search for Covid-19 funding. But it’s a remedy that won’t really work
23 April 2020 - 05:00
"Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem" is a catchy phrase attributed to Woody Allen. It’s also the way that Iraj Abedian, CEO of Pan-African Capital, thinks about the catchy concept of a wealth tax, which has been touted as a way to raise a war chest to fight Covid-19.
"It sounds so simple, but that’s deceptive. We don’t even have agreement on how to define wealth, never mind how to practically tax such a malleable concept. To talk about instituting such a complex tax now, in the middle of this crisis, just won’t work," says Abedian.
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