In a personal essay, Tim Pitt, formerly a special adviser at HM Treasury, argues that the government of Boris Johnson should give greater priority to acknowledging and addressing inequality of income and wealth in Britain. Doing so, he argues, would help to restore social consent for Britain’s market economy, an economic settlement that has come under pressure from populist politicians on both Left and Right. Among the policy changes he discusses are the taxation of property and inherited wealth. The author, a member of the SMF Policy Advisory Board, writes in a personal capacity. These are his views, not those of the SMF.
This essay is being published to further the SMF’s work of informing public debate about economic policy and our particular interest in the political philosophy of the social market approach.