Another website that I really appreciate is the one that provides a wealth of information for 8743 top public companies. And the one that I really like most is the listing of NetWealth - Assets minus liabilities. You can find all the data here.
But here are the summary figures by country.
The number of companies is slightly reduced because there are a few hundred with negative net wealth. And this year, the numbers for Russian companies have disappeared. But lets just imagine taxing the 8004 that have positive values for net worth. They total over $45.1 trillion, and this figure can be added in with the $450 trillion of household net worth.
Message to Kier Starmer and the future French Prime Minister. Why not tax the net worth of companies based in your countries at 1% per annum? For the UK, it would raise $18.7 billion - around £14.8 billion.
For France, it would generate $17.4 billion - around £16 billion.
Simple. And totally fair.
Of course, these numbers are only for the 8000 that made it to the listing. All companies have to provide such information in their annual reports, so it really would be simple to determine 1% of the value to be paid in tax.
The top public companies website includes another fascinating listing. It's what is referred to as "Cash in Hand". You can find that listing here. The total is somewhat less than the Net Wealth data, but it still amounts to an impressive $30.3 trillion.
What I find intriguing is the fact that while the Net Assets listing includes a fair proportion of companies that actually produce things with, for example, Alphabet (Google), Samsung and Microsoft coming in respectively at #9, #10 and #11 and Toyota at #14, the cash in hand listings are totally dominated by banks and financial institutions. The first company that actually produces anything is Toyota that comes in at #62.
But, whatever the type of company, and irrespective of whether you choose to have an annual tax on Net Assets or Cash-on-hand, it is clear that there is a lot of money around if only someone had the nerve to think about a radical change to the system.
It is also important to realise that my 1% annual tax on net wealth could not be described at anti-business. After all, the amount of individual and household wealth ($450 trillion) is ten times larger than the wealth that is visible in companies accounts ($45 trillion).
No comments:
Post a Comment