U.K.’s $500 Billion in Tax Breaks Are a Tricky Budget Target

Prime Minister Boris Johnson might be about to go after Britain’s “staggeringly rich.”

There’s no full-scale attack of wealth coming, but the country’s myriad tax breaks -- some of which mainly benefit the rich -- could be targeted in next week’s budget by a government that needs every penny to fund the biggest spending spree in years. Local media have pinpointed the controversial Entrepreneurs’ Relief as a candidate for the scrapheap.

Boris Johnson on March 5.

Photographer: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg

Britain has more than 1,100 reliefs that cost more than 400 billion pounds ($517 billion) a year -- the equivalent of half of all government spending.

But the ...