To think rich people steal money all the time and that’s often why they’re rich?

I heard a really good quote recently:

Priviledge is having good choices to choose between. When people say they are rich as they made good choices, this is what they had.

I know. Like the landlords pocketing Housing Benefit and the employers paying wages that need topping up by the state. They’re awful.

Service Announcement!

While we’re all bickering amongst ourselves we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture. Depressing as fuck, but hopefully those who survive the AI revolution will have much better prospects.

The first two I know are each worth mid-8 figures. The third, high 7-figures.

As for billionaires, the UK only has 154 of them. There aren't enough of them to make much of a difference.

Steal no, use existing tax codes and various specialists to maximize their savings and minimize outgoing taxes yes.
Anyone (who can pay) can get taxation and investment help.

And like Boris Johnson before him, Nigel Farage is the next in line to bleed the country dry, while some threads are pleading for him to become prime minister, because they think he will solve everything, when he actually intends to solve everything for one person only: Nigel Farage.

if the top 1% of earners didn't pay 30% of all income tax revenue then where would be be

Great example.

I've read that the top 10% of PAYE earners are currently contributing over 60% of the total tax receipts in this country. The UK is in a tough spot, and excessively taxing the only people who are net contributors until they're completely drained seems unwise. It's fascinating how much hate they receive online.
The common sentiment in these discussions seems to be that success or financial prudence is penalized rather than rewarded. I might have been aiming for the wrong goal. I believed earning a lot was positive because it allowed me to support my family, and I took pride in my tax contributions. The resentment towards higher earners has me reconsidering—maybe I had it all wrong. Perhaps stepping back would be healthier for me.
This is Mumsnet. If you're not on the breadline, prepare to be completely torn apart. If you dare to voice complaints about managing on your income, you'll be hit with phrases like ‘read the room’ or ‘check your privilege,’ along with all the other tired clichés.
These people seem like frogs in boiling water, so accustomed to being mistreated that they no longer feel the pain. They’re content with being poorer overall as long as they receive a few benefits and freebies, instead of pushing for wealth creation, lower taxes, or more efficient public spending.
Our economy is declining, the population is surging, unemployment is rising as businesses cut jobs, contributing taxpayers are leaving the country, taxes and borrowing are increasing, and energy costs are sky-high while the government focuses on its ‘Green agenda.’ This country feels doomed.

Who?

TheGrimSmile

This whole idea that rich people work hard is utter rubbish. They have inherited wealth or exploited others. I'm talking super rich eg multi millionaires/ billionaires, not people on a good salary. Somebody like Elon Musk has never done a day's work in his life.

I personally wish Elon Musk had never made it as far as he had but I have talked to (bitched about) him to a lot of computer nerdy types and he is seen as a genius in both the computer and management stratosphere. I would guess he has worked days and nights long and hard as a lot of computer programmers do, people don’t see them as ‘doing work’ but imo they code late into the night and create a lot of what we take for granted until it breaks down!!

The fact you put ‘rich’ in inverted commas shows me you aren’t the sort of rich this is really about. It’s not about working people who have made good or had well paid jobs. Not at all.

Ahhh… Government estimates. Usually run by their party HQ to support ongoing policies.
ISAs aren’t tax evasion whatsoever btw.

What you have observed OP is a simple uncontroversial fact.

Why?

Nope. The economy’s money is being sucked into the accounts of a small number of people who not only don’t pay much tax (because they’ve rigged the system) but also don't send the money round the economy. They outcompete us - including governments - for assets. A few more people on minimum wage will make no difference.

I said ignore t(e tax bit as it’s unhelpful. The massive disparity between fraud and unclaimed benefits is unlikely to be down to lack of investigation.

Not in the way many here seem to. Would I like them to pay more tax? Sure. But what will create a stronger, more resilient economy is people actually working, curbing the ever-skyrocketing welfare state, and stopping our addiction to spending where every life ill needs compensating financially by the state.

The number of threads about non-working lazy teen/20 something kids on here; and the first response is always ‘how dare they leech from you, make them claim benefits instead’. So they can then leech the taxpayer rather than the parent who has enabled them to be a layabout

Bitter, much?

We're 'rich' and not a cent of it was inherited or stolen or gained in any kind of deviant way.

Rich people could be:

• lucky (right place, right time, right job, right investment kind of gist)
• clever / talented (good at identifying, pursuing the right opportunities)
• financially driven - they make it their business to become wealthy from an early stage

Now we are 'rich' we can afford to invest in ways that mean it is diversified, it grows, and we can pay for advice from people who recommend how we minimise tax (and BTW we still pay c55% on anything newly earned!)

If the employee doesn’t want to earn the money they shouldn’t take the job. If no one takes the job the salary will increase to find someone who is willing to work.

Have a look at how many investigators HMRC employ to tackle tax evaders and how may DWP employ for benefit fraud.

It is crazy.

Hey OP, are you a journalist?

Here are some of your thread titles

• To think hope is overrated because it doesn’t actually change anything
• To think being a woman of your word still matters - even when life is busy or feelings changeTo think people idealise the private sector as more efficient, when it’s just as subject to egos and..
• To think “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is not a flex - it’s a red flag
• To think parents respect their adult children more once they move out

So do you not think the super rich are a problem?

There seems to be such a raft of socialist worker style student politics on these boards recently. The country’s woes are not going to be solved by taxing the very few ultra wealthy who will choose to remain resident in this county while Corbyn et al rifle through their wallet. If we want better public services we all have to pay for them.

Try looking to impartial, respectable sources for public finance information. OBR and HMRC stats. There are some excellent podcasts on the IFS website as well as detailed research papers. Dan Neidles untaxing podcast on BBC sounds explains tax concepts - who is and is not evading tax, and what actually works in terms of tax policy - in simplified ways for instance.

Didn't say they didn't.
I was just making stupid inflammatory comments based on no real thought whatsoever.