Therese Raphael, Columnist

Rishi Sunak Is Having the Wrong Conversation on Tax

Britain’s Chancellor needs a way to pay for the surge in public spending. His options aren’t great.

July 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM UTC

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

Tough decisions ahead.
Photographer: Aaron Chown/PA Images

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Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has enjoyed the kind of popularity usually reserved for rock stars and royalty. Urbane without being aloof and one of the government’s best communicators, he has put the full weight of the Treasury into cushioning the economic blow of the pandemic and preserving jobs.

Now he has to figure out how to pay for it amidst the largest decline in annual GDP for 300 years. The announcement Tuesday night of a review into capital gains tax is the first sign the government is looking for ways to plug the gap. Only, it’s not a hugely encouraging one.