LAST week at Davos, a group of self-declared rich people demanded that elected politicians force them to pay more tax. The “patriotic millionaires” group announced in a letter, signed by 260 of them, that they would be “proud to pay more” if it were to make for better societies. They also insisted that they were not alone in wanting to pay more. Far from it.

Surveys done by the group showed that 75 per cent of those who responded supported a 2 per cent annual tax on the wealth of billionaires, and 58 per cent supported the same on those with more than US$10 million in assets.

I’m not sure any of them have thought this through properly. That’s because all taxes creep.