AIBU to want a party to "take on the rich and powerful"

It's hard not to like the "idea" of a more equal society, but the fact is the rich and powerful got that way because they (or their ancestors) had the intelligence, drive, skills foresight, ambition and motivation to make that happen.

And we still need everything they achive to happen, or there'd be no money to share out. If there was no financial reward for doing it, would they all still achieve at the same level?

I do think levelling the playing field with inheritance tax makes sense, and I'm someone who'd be affected by that, both on my parent's estate and on mine.

On the one hand you could argue we must stay beholden to the finance sector etc because we can’t afford to lose the tax revenue it generates.

On the other hand the very same system drives profits above all else and disproportionately benefits a tiny minority.

Part of the reason public services are struggling and taxes have risen is the growth in the wealth divide, the reduction of social mobility and the growth in poverty.

The same system that is generating tax revenue is also contributing to the increase in those who can no longer reliably afford housing, food, utilities etc despite being in employment (and so have to rely more on the state).

Quite simply it is increasingly difficult to earn a living wage due to the cost of living. Reducing the tax rates a bit won’t really help people or public services whereas say, capping rents at max a fifth of the average income, might. No party has so far been willing to overhaul the rental market.

There are things that could be done - tax residential property owned by corporate/investment vehicles effectively; tax property owners who let multiple properties effectively; tax property investors on global asset wealth etc.

Right now we have a system that is increasingly benefiting the wealthy minority. You have to ask yourself whether this country can afford to continue to be the favourite tax efficient investment vehicle for that minority.

What a childish post! I’m not sure if I should bother to engage but…

Improving corporate responsibility, accountability, and ensuring sufficient contributions to services will make the UK work better. Companies benefit a lot from quality road and rail networks, an efficient grid, high speed internet, educated workforce, etc etc.

Amazon paid no corporation tax at all in 2022 and 2023, against sales of £24 billion and £27 billion. And even though some corporation tax is was paid in the 2024 tax year, there is no transparency around how much of the profits are shunted into their loss making subsidiaries abroad. Transparency should be a given for large corporations.

Economic redistribution without the 'liberal BS' sounds like Stalinism to be honest! Economic redistribution WITH the 'liberal BS' sounds more like democratic socialism, and yes, we could do witha bit more of that at the moment.

I can't for the life of me find out how many Labour millionaire/billionaire MPs there are. Could you link to your source please?

Many people are drawn to the Labour Party, even though it is filled with millionaires and billionaires who ironically never share their wealth with their supporters.

The same pattern can be seen with millionaire YouTubers, TikTokers, digital influencers, and celebrities who talk about social inequality but don't sacrifice their wealth to support their followers. They preach endlessly but hold onto their riches and fail to genuinely support those who trust them.

It’s amusing how popular YouTubers, TikTokers, and other influencers advocate for taking wealth from the rich while they themselves grow wealthier, amassing fortunes by misleading their loyal audiences.

"The populace enjoy voting for parties that don't have their best interests at heart"

They don't get that though. They aspire to be the rich & powerful so think if inheritance tax is increased etc it may hit them in the future. They see themselves as more like the billionaires then the those on benefits.

What would you not have in your life or any of our lives if there was no 'rich and powerful'

Apart from the chips on people's shoulders

That's because you're using the word incorrectly, so the tripe is yours

We had a party that took on the rich and powerful and those that couldn’t afford to move abroad ended up paying a basic tax of around 1/3 of our salary + NI

You just showed yourself to be a typical leftie. No clue what you are talking about. Ask me any financial question and I will give you the answer. Some of us don’t go on public forums and preach incorrect information.

This says it all for me.

It's difficult to take you seriously OP. The only times recently where Labour have been voted in is where they've been right wing. Blair was praised by Thatcher and Starmer purged the party of the left when he became leader. Ergo this country votes right wing.

People have a choice but they continue to vote right despite being screwed over by the right. Crumbling schools, public services, NHS etc have been decimated by the right but people continued to vote for it.

I find it difficult to take you seriously when you say the media is governed by the Guardian. You have the internet at your fingertips so I'll set you a challenge. Look up the daily visits to The Times, Telegraph, Sun, Mail, Express and compare to the Guardian. All those right wing papers are owned by billionaires who aren't impartial. Those billionaires also own other media and are very influential in politics. Blair famously got into bed with Murdoch before winning the election.

You also seem unaware that social media like Facebook and Twitter are owned by people with an agenda. Look how they're cosying up to Trump and trying to influence politics. None of them are left wing.

It's difficult to take you seriously when you talk about 'liberal bs'. For me, being liberal is about tolerance, civil rights and democracy.

Likewise to you.

Look up the rules of when you lose the personal tax allowance. Educate yourself or you are going to make yourself look pretty stupid.

You can work hard and still be poor, obviously being well paid is a sign of effort too but assuming people are poor through laziness is incorrect.

'The equivalent of 60%' is misleading. You've disregarded the Personal Allowance and the lower tax band. Earnings over a certain amount should be taxed more. And once you get to much higher incomes, it's obscene to begrudge contributing more to the society that often enabled them to get to that position.

Corporations are subject to tax, higher than many other countries. 25% actually since you don’t know. That’s higher than basic rate taxpayer.

Now you know.

Would that be the rich and the powerful who pay majority of the tax.

Anyone believes and parrots the line that they will take on the rich and powerful is still practising sixth form politics. Grown ups know that the rich and powerful don’t care for these threats. They just up and leave. Because guess other? Other countries are more than happy to have the rich and power and their big bucks residing in their countries. Thats why people in socialist countries usually end up having to eat their own pets and learn the hard way.

And where does the money go. Wasted and stolen by the very government you think is going to save you. We spend about half the money on welfare and the NHS.

By the way, you are naive and need to read up if you think Magic Grandpa Corbyn is the answer. He and his ilk are thieves and crooks.

Heard the latest about Angela Rayner’s department doubling in size and doubling their spend by taking a staggering amount of flights and wasting taxpayer cash? She was supposed to build houses, instead she has stuffed her government department full of incompetent and thick as mince people like here who are basically on permanent holidays flying around on the money that is supposed to be spent on housebuilding. And how many houses have they build. Yeah, exactly.

Heard the latest about your beloved unions? Magic grandpa’s best friend Len Mclusky who was the leader of unit union hired his friends to build a hotel that should have cost £30m but cost £150m and will never name its money back. Comrade Len, it turns out, was allegedly taking flights and football tickets from these friends and never tendered the work out to any other company. That’s union member subscription fees that were spent this way.

Socialists are the biggest crooks and thieves. That’s why these ideals of taking from the rich never works. Because guess what, they only care about becoming rich themselves by stealing from the gullible, often stupid public that votes for them. While the rich paying for your benefits and NHS actually just leave the country.

Yes, this is also the kind of thing I mean 👏👏👏

One problem with this is that people tend to mean by ‘the rich and powerful’ those above them.

We could start by levying punitive taxes on the global 1% of income-earners. That’s a household with a teacher and a nurse, for the UK.

(These figures are already adjusted for purchasing power).

Why are these arguments framed around taxing individuals rather than being broader? Why shouldn’t corporations be subject to a change in company law that ensures they pay their fair share for the infrastructure and educated workforce they rely on?

Take the highly profitable handful of companies that have taken over most of the UK’s veterinary surgeries, who have forced prices up. Amazon?

The disgraceful behaviour of water companies could be tackled for example too - this would be extremely popular. Their current leadership represent the antithesis of hard work and success by metrics that the public care about. Things like clean drinking water, no shit in rivers and seas matter above all else to the public. Boards of essential services must be barred from collecting huge bonuses when they are failing to do their public duty.

Good luck with your A-levels when you start them, OP.

You don’t say what you class as rich?
do you mean the super rich? Or do you mean those on 100k, who are already paying the equivalent to 60% tax and get zero benefits. No tax allowance, no childcare vouchers etc. would you tax them even more? I take it you don’t have a highly pressured, well paid job?

I don't know, I don't want to light a torch and go after people who live in bigger houses than me, drive younger cars than me, shop in Waitrose and have longer-haul holidays than me.

I just want it so that energy companies don't make such obscenely disgusting profits, tax loopholes are closed so that every one pays their share, government contracts aren't given to their mates to under deliver, and directors at train companies don't pay themselves huge bonuses when the service barely functions and isn't even affordable for people to travel to work anymore.