Unless the Government Accounts are to go into total meltdown we will need some more Government revenue through taxes – new taxes. The best one I can think of is a tax on bank deposits, personal and business, say of 2% or more on over £5000, with rules about moving money around or out of the country. They amount to over £2 trillion in the UK. That could be tuned to produce Government Revenue of £40bn plus.

It has many advantages.

First, the banks can largely administer it.

Second, it is using funds not needed at present. It is collected from those with substantial savings and leaves those out who owe or have no money capital.

Third, real investment opportunities will be sparse for a year or more. Many with savings will be lending to Government, and this offsets the massive debts building up from the funds of the relatively rich.

Fourth it draws money partly from the mature/old who are also the ones on whom the coronavirus costs fall, if they have money.

Fifth, it makes the vast bank wealth of the massive companies with idle assets available.

Sixth, it will not hurt anyone vulnerable and few would notice it over a number of years.

It looks a strong candidate for the best fiscal response to the present crisis, which must be addressed soon nationally and globally. It makes more acute the handling of off shore banking wealth. This is the only viable response to skyrocketing fiscal debt. We could call it the “I don’t need it now tax”