Why don’t more millionaires make ‘patriotic gifts’?

The rich are happy to pay more, the broadest shoulders should bear the heaviest burden, and the climate emergency means more money is urgently needed to save the planet. We keep being told that the better off are more than willing to contribute plenty to the government if only they were asked.

Groups such as Patriotic Millionaires UK have campaigned for wealth levies, even projecting light shows reading ‘Tax our wealth’ onto the Bank of England to make their point. Meanwhile billionaires such as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and John Caudwell backed Labour at the last election, presumably comfortable with their plans to put up taxes for the better off.

And yet, here is something odd. When they have the opportunity to do so at little cost to themselves, it is remarkable how few people choose to give their money to the government.