Resolution calls for £11bn property levy to make Britain fairer but there’s a problem with that

The winners of the property lottery are sitting on huge windfalls they haven’t earned and taxing it is a good idea in principle. But politicians have crashed and burned with every attempt to make property taxes fairer, writes James Moore

A fairer way to raise tax revenues? Resolution is calling for a tax on unearned property gains (AFP via Getty)

The Resolution Foundation is possessed of a deep well of good ideas. Really, if it wasn’t around you’d have to invent it.

But its latest missive, on the subject of the vast trove of wealth built up by Britain’s homeowners, comes with a rather glaring problem. It’s a problem for a profoundly unequal country.

First to the idea: Resolution’s report Home County, produced in partnership with the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, says that Britain’s homeowners are sitting on a collective £3trn that they haven’t earned or paid tax on.