Letters

摘要

You rightly say that governments' pandemic debts will need to be paid for, and mention taxes on land, inheritance and carbon emissions as options ("After the disease, the debt", April 25th). Why not add a tax on leverage to your list? After all, one reason governments will need to borrow so much is because they are bailing out over-indebted companies. Astonishingly, the credit crunch did nothing to curtail firms'borrowings. Non-financial corporations around the world increased their debt by 70%, to $74trn, in the 12 years to 2019, according to the Institute of International Finance. What's more, countries actually encourage their companies to splurge on debt by making interest payments tax deductible, whereas it would be far better for society if they had more equity.