To think that most rich people don’t actually care about those struggling?

Trusts and foundations give around £3.8 Billion to U.K. charities a year. Many of these trusts and foundations come from individual and family wealth or from big companies.

So while many don’t - many do.

You sound very jealous tbh. How do you know what they think or feel?
most people live in bubble, rich or poor and finances are a private thing

I'm not rich, not by any definition, but I live in my own bubble .....

I think the majority of people do as well. rich or poor.

I'm not sure why people automatically blame 'the rich' when most tax evasion is by small businesses.

In 2023-2024 small businesses were responsible for 60% of the tax gap (the gap between what people should pay and what they actually do) - that's over £28 billion of lost tax revenue.

'Wealthy individuals' (defined as those earning over £200K a year) evaded £2.34 billion of tax in comparison, whilst for criminals it was £4.2 billion.

It's the side hustle people and cash in hand workers who don't care about society.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps

I'm not sure I'd couch it in terms of "obligation", but for me, the reason I should give is luck. I am bloody lucky to have been born when and where I was (mainly), and with the attributes I have (also). By the standards of virtually any other time or place I might have been born, I've won the lottery. That's why I'm still alive into my middle age, literate, free, comfortable. The reason I'm rich (sorry to be crass, but for brevity and because it's the terms this thread was couched in) are down to my attributes and decisions and hard work, but again, that's largely genes and upbringing too when you strip everything back.

The same could be said for almost all (maybe literally all) rich people. That's why I think they/we should give.

I'm an equal-opportunity curmudgeon though. People at the other end of the scale in the UK are also bloody lucky. They haven't won the lottery at all. But in any other time in the UK, and most parts of the world still today, their life would be truly even more horrible, and probably short. I suppose that makes me a sort of old-school patrician type. We are are of equal moral worth and we all owe what we have (whether that is little, subsidised by others, or lots, thanks to things we didn't choose) to fate. I can't quite derive an "obligation" to give from that, but I also see very few moral grounds on which to hoard what we end up with.

I think in general most people don’t really care about others. Wealth doesn’t really come into it. It’s human nature to just look after your own.

I have also seen a few people moan about rich people not caring, only to get rich themselves and turn into the same sort of people as the rich ones they previously moaned about. Again, it’s human nature.

I mean tbh you have to be pretty much completely non empathic to sit on a billion pounds and not care about the rest of what is going on in the world in terms of disease/poverty.

I mean just think about how much a billion pounds is. 1000 million pounds.

No one personally has the need for that kind of money. Let alone 10s to 100s of billions.

If you aren't doing something useful with it, either benefiting society through investment or using it for charitable causes then there has to be something wrong with your outlook somewhere, as it is just accumulating money for the sake of accumulating money.

I think it's fair to say that not enough rich people care or care enough. Whether this is down to ignorance, politics, a lack of empathy or a combination of both will vary.

A net worth of a few million isn't going to go far funding much at all, even if they gave away every £. You seem a bit delusional about what real lasting change costs.

I agree OP. If wealthy people really cared, they would use their wealth to create equality. It's not by chance that rulers of the more corrupt countries have wealth, and have historically always had wealth, while their people starve.
The "evidence" is the inequality.

(I am not including MNers on 6/7 figure salaries in this, there is not a lot they can do about inequality and I am sure many of them do care)

Suppose it depends what you mean by "rich".

Take a trip over to the inheritance tax thread.

Most people are into preserving their wealth above everyone else's, even from beyond the grave.

Champagne socialists tend to talk a good game but when the chips are down it's all about me and mine.

The man I work for funds a charity providing therapy to disadvantaged children. The man my husband works for funds an environmental charity focussing on the ocean. Both are British and very focussed on philanthropy in their areas of interest. Most very wealthy people I know, I’m not one of them, give to charity or are very involved in philanthropy in one way or another, giving money or time or both. Not me, I’m just out here trying to make ends meet!

How many of these mega-rich types do you know personally? Because you'd have to know someone to know if they care. I presume you wouldn't make this sweeping statement unless you actually had some evidence...

Of course you can shift policy. It’s called voting.

How would you know? Why wouldn't rich people be doing a lot for others without publicity because they don't want to show off what they're doing?
If I were you I'd be more worried about that massive chip on your shoulder.

My observation from having a disabled child who is now 30, is that many of the charities, services, special provision is set up and supported by the “rich” or better off

What kind of influence are you imagining someone with a few million might have?

Like the Royal family, you mean? Yeah, they don't give a shit.

Like most things, some do and some don’t. And some keep it quiet.

I was on a scout camp once and a man in a horse appeared on the neighbouring field. He spoke briefly to the scout club leader. I asked her who he was and she said that we were camping on his land and that he was the clubs main sponsor. Nothing was ever mentioned or written anywhere about this. I thought that was nice.