Yes says Ian Wylie; freelance writer for The Guardian, Management Today, Fast Company and other publications.
ARE WE ALL ENJOYING THE 1980s REVIVAL? Big hair, skinny jeans, ankle boots and bright colours are all back in fashion, along with that other 80s image of bankers celebrating bonuses with bottles of Bollinger. Greed, it seems, is good again.
Europe's wealthy centres of excellence are booming: from the private equity capitalists and hedge fund managers of London to the fashionistas of Milan; from Antwerp's diamond dealers to the oligarchs of Moscow. On their coattails rides a second tier of moneymaking estate agents, art dealers, wine dealers, restaurateurs, jewellers and niche airlines, offering to fly the wealthy across the Atlantic in business or first-class-only jets.
The rise of the super-rich across Europe has been most dramatic in Britain. In the UK, the wealth of the richest 1,000 people has more than trebled in the last 10 years alone. At the same time, the average wealth of the British population as a whole has barely increased, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. National governments, eager to attract these "wealth creators" to their shores, often welcome them with tax breaks, and a study published by the International Monetary Fund, in April, ranked Britain alongside Switzerland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands as an "offshore financial centre". London has effectively become a major tax haven, a fact highlighted recently at a hearing before members of parliament when one private equity boss boasted he paid a lower rate of tax than his cleaner.
Can that be right? To question this apparent injustice is not to deny the rich the rewards for their endeavour. nor to sink into the politics of envy. I'm a little dubious about fortunes generated by financial wizardry rather than by making or supplying something that is genuinely useful, but wealth creation is not, I believe, intrinsically wrong. What bothers me more is that in democratic societies across Europe the wealthy seem to be becoming ever more influential at a time when many of the super-rich want to put more distance between themselves and the communities that support their wealth. Some high rollers and celebrities give a great deal away and do much good (philanthropy is also back in fashion) but they're in the minority.
No more than 10 years ago, the top players from my local football club were regularly snapped visiting sick kids in hospitals. These days the team are €150,000-a-week stars rarely seen outside their blacked-out Baby Bentleys. There was a time when this kind of behaviour would have resulted in riots, but such display of wealth is no longer regarded as distasteful. When the rich and famous open their doors to the media, they don't create resentment. Instead, envy has been replaced by admiration.
But envy and resentment will return if inequitable tax dodges are seen to be putting these super-rich out of reach.
Even in Switzerland, where some 3,700 millionaire and billionaire exiles have been lured by local cantons with individually negotiated tax breaks, there is growing criticism of an almost medieval system that means the richer you are, the less you contribute. "When Johnny Hallyday comes to Switzerland he loves the tranquillity, and the security," Joseph Zisyadis, a Swiss Parliament deputy, told the International Herald Tribune when the French rocker moved to Gstaad earlier this year. "He loves that the country is clean. All of this costs money. And who pays for this if the rich don't pay for this?"
The wealthy don't make their fortunes in a vacuum; they owe at least part of their success to local people and services, and they should stump up their fair share by way of taxation. A higher rate of income tax on the lucky, that is earmarked for the unlucky, would have a greater impact than ad-hoc philanthropy.
Governments across Europe have a moral and economic duty to ensure the super-rich pay their way. Unfortunately, many know how difficult it is to tether the wealthy. Sardinia, for example, has a reputation for being "the playground of the rich". Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna are just some of the wealthy celebrities who have homes on Sardinia or visit it regularly. Silvio Berlusconi is said to own seven villas there. Earlier this year, the local government of Sardinia introduced a range of taxes on second homes, private yachts and aircraft to raise cash to preserve the island's natural beauty spots. But threaten the super-rich with taxes and they will threaten to flee abroad to tax havens. Governments should then call their bluff and fulfil their duty to the people who rely on them for representation.
More: Should the super-rich be super-taxed?
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Mis à jour le 25/10/2016 
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