Wealth tax Could Spain offer a lesson in how to target the super-rich?

With its green curtain of hanging gardens, the Planeta building is one of Barcelona's most recognisable office blocks.

- Juliette Garside

Earlier this summer, it was acquired as part of a Monopoly board spending spree by Spain's richest man, the Zara fashion label founder, Amancio Ortega.

Through his family office, Pontegadea, which invests his personal wealth, Ortega has also just snapped up the five-star Hotel Banke in Paris, an apartment building in Florida, and a half-share in the operator of Teesport near Middlesbrough, adding to a property portfolio already worth €20bn (£17.2bn). Why the rush? Ortega is poised to receive a record dividend of €3.1bn this year from his shares in Zara's parent group, Inditex. He is reportedly racing to spend the windfall, which would otherwise be subject to wealth taxes.

Sources close to Pontegadea told the Guardian it was not investing to avoid tax, but following its mandate "to create wealth from the original assets, maintain it, make it grow, and consolidate it over generations".

As chancellors around Europe look for ways to repair the damage to public finances caused by global shocks, there is a growing clamour for more effective ways to tax the largest private fortunes.

Spain is one of only three European countries (along with Switzerland and Norway) to still collect wealth taxes, and policymakers are looking to Madrid for lessons in what works.

In the UK, the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and the party's former shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds have joined those calling for Rachel Reeves to introduce a wealth tax when she sets out her budget in the autumn. Members of her own party are pushing for a debate in parliament about introducing a 2% annual levy on those with assets over £10m, which they say could raise £24bn.

In France, a similar proposal aimed squarely at the ultra-rich with assets of more than €100m was approved by the lower house but rejected by the senate.