Politics
The Plan for a 90% Tax Winning Friends in Westminster
— 2 mins read
A research lab wants a global wealth tax starting at £950,000 and income tax rates of up to 90%
A Paris research group has published a plan to level incomes in every country at €5,000 (c.£4,325) a month, by the year 2100. It would be paid for by a global wealth tax starting at £950,000 and income tax rates rising to 90%.
The World Inequality Lab launched its Global Justice Report on 4 June 2026 at a conference in Paris. The 136-page document took two years and 45 contributors to produce. It is co-directed by French economist Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel.
What the report actually proposes
The plan would halve average working hours from 2,100 a year to 1,000 by 2100. It would cap economic growth in rich countries such as Britain at between 0% and 0.5% a year.
Material consumption would fall by a third. Red meat eating in Western Europe would be cut by a factor of 2.5. A Global Justice Fund would spend roughly a tenth of global GDP each year on development and low-carbon energy.
Countries refusing to take part would face tariffs. The report models rates of 100% on the US and 185% on China.
The Guardian reported the plan as a route to holding global warming at 1.8C rather than 4C.
Who is backing it in Britain
Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward called it 'a vision of hope' requiring 'major systemic change', including wealth taxes and higher health and education spending. Her party made major gains in the May local elections, winning hundreds of council seats and control of councils including Norwich, Hastings, and Waltham Forest.
How to make poor people poorer.
Labour MP for Poole Neil Duncan-Jordan tabled a written parliamentary question asking Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds what assessment she has made of the report's implications for her policies.
'It is obviously nonsense'
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, called the plan 'potty' and 'a fanciful sixth form essay'. Former chancellor Sir Jeremy Hunt responded on X: 'How to make poor people poorer.'
The World Inequality Lab runs on about €1.5m a year. It publishes a full funding breakdown: 34% comes from EU research grants, 22% from the Paris School of Economics and partners, and 8% from the Ford Foundation.
Piketty sat on Jeremy Corbyn's economic advisory committee in 2015 and later distanced himself. His 2013 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century sold millions of copies.
Duncan-Jordan's question awaits a ministerial answer.
