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Yonatan Berman

@yonatanberman.com
1.5K followers 407 following 57 posts

Associate Professor in Economics, King's College London Also @iza.org, @lseinequalities.bsky.social, @stone-lis.bsky.social Economics, inequality, mobility, politics www.yonatanberman.com

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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 18/11/2025
Related to that: in the UK, stamp duty (a transaction tax on property purchases) is effectively a regressive wealth tax. For most homeowners it's a one-off tax on wealth paid once or twice in a lifetime, and falls disproportionately on the middle class. (from upcoming work with @zhuowen.bsky.social)
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 21/10/2025
Two points missing in recent Wealth Tax debates: - If we measure total taxes as a % of wealth (not income), the system is highly regressive - The wealthiest pay 3%-4% of their wealth annually in taxes. Wealth Tax shouldn't be seen as starting from zero (see US data from @gabrielzucman.bsky.social)
Average tax rates in the US in 2019 as a share of wealth. Tax declines from 30% for percentile 20 to 4% for the top wealth percentile.
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 08/10/2025
Also, if anyone wants to reform stamp duty, we can start by making it truly progressive in house price (data from assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674db6... ):
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 27/06/2025
Definition of a good airport @StockholmArlandaAirport
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 15/05/2025
If anyone needed a reminder... @nickbloom.bsky.social on the macro effects of Brexit
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 27/03/2025
Just a reminder: the last time we saw welfare cuts of this magnitude, life expectancy dropped by 3-5 months. That's tens of thousands of excess deaths over the course of a decade.
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 25/01/2025
These things are obviously there, but yeah, different statistics tell different stories. The top 1% wealth share isn't saying much about the bottom of the distribution. There are other useful stats about housing affordability declining, like this one from the ONS:
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 25/01/2025
To add to tonight's discourse on UK wealth inequality: the most reliable source is probably these estimates by Alvaredo, Atkinson, and Morelli. They only go up to 2012 but still worth considering, especially if discussing long-term trends. @chrisgiles.bsky.social @liambyrnemp.bsky.social
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 14/11/2024
Does anyone know what's the deal with 'Invalid Handle'? What did I do wrong?
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 23/10/2024
While both reforms triggered similar short-term responses, long-term effects differed. The permanent tax increase didn't reduce reported dividends in later years. However, the 2017 one-year cut led to a large decline in withdrawals, reflecting an increase in retained earnings 4/5
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 23/10/2024
Both reforms incentivized shareholders to withdraw dividends, leading to a significant impact on dividend tax revenue. In both cases, revenue doubled or more, reaching 1%-1.5% of national income. 3/5
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 23/10/2024
In the 2010s, Israel implemented two major dividend tax reforms: a permanent 5pp rate increase in 2012, and a one-year 5pp tax relief in 2017. 2/5
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 23/10/2024
🚨🚨🚨 New Working Paper (with Esteban Klor)! We study how dividend tax reforms affect dividend payments, tax revenue, and the retention of earnings. 1/5
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Yonatan Berman @yonatanberman.com · 24/09/2023
Absurd proposal. The lost revenue will have to come from somewhere, so higher income tax for workers. Who is the electorate this proposal seeks to attract? Is it perhaps just a case of self-interested politicians like in our models?
Rishi Sunak considering inheritance tax cut, report says
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