We ENGLISH are we too respectful of the rich?

[GabbyLoggon]

And too critical of the poor? (I suspect we are, or I would not be asking the question, ok)

Is it because money gives power; and the rich have money?

Or do we clobber the poor because they have little money and little power?

I suppose it goes back to Victorian times.

Even if someone rich is really stingy and do nothing except put all their money in a bank, it helps the middle and the poor hugely.

It gives the bank funds to lend out to small businesses and homeowners.

If they pay it in tax instead, huge chunks of it will be wasted in the bloated, inefficient, economy-choking public sector.

Like Brazil....or perhaps more like Switzerland?

Well, if English banks are anything like Italian ones, it is really, really hard to get money for any kind of small business.

Much better it'd be (imo) to have a more efficient public sector (English public sector btw doesn't strike me as incredibly inefficient compared to others) and a smaller gap between the rich and the poor.

Do people realise the public sector is bigger than the private? It's a massive, bloated, inefficient waste of money (largely, not entirely) that needs severe reassessment and pressure to peform like the private sector does.

Regardless of what the 'rich' do with their money they are still keeping the poor afloat by paying such insane chunks in tax so to be honest I think the rich should be thanked and respected rather than attacked and reviled.

We have a love/hate relationship with the rich. Its not respect, but we are a bit in awe of them I think.

We aspire to be rich, but anyone getting there is torn down straight away.

In other countries the rich are much more appreciated for their higher contribution. In the UK they are just a cash cow to be taxed as much as possible, and then slagged off for political gain.

I'll remember to thank Philip Green then...

poor rich people. Nobody appreciates them

Philip Green has created tens of thousands of jobs in Britain. We should be very grateful to him.

In avoiding tax, he is just acting rationally. I avoid as much tax as I can by using ISAs, using pension schemes, and similar. He does the same, but on a bigger scale and using more complicated schemes because his income is much bigger. Why would anyone voluntarily pay more tax than they had to?

The rich :worship emoticon:

they have more money than us for a reason, they're better than us

Philip Green + his companies pay about 100mil in tax per year into the UK.

He creates thousands of jobs.

We need less people like him, the filthy toff.

'Philip Green has created tens of thousands of jobs in Britain. We should be very grateful to him.'

PMSL!

Go ahead, long, like da Masta's boots. I'd as soon see him in Hell.

It is a myth, I believe that the private sector is more efficient by default (of course some private companies are incredibly efficient and profitable, but not all are!).

How many private companies have screwed up during the last 300 yrs? How many have been saved from disaster? How many have let their workers down? Or discriminate?

Lots here in Italy. Maybe none in England, though I have my doubts.

Well, I'm not English (Scottish) and I don't have any particular respect for "the rich". I have respect for people who have worked hard to earn the money they have (unless they have done so at the expense of others/ immorally/ illegally), but no sense of respect towards those who were born into riches, unless they do great things with them.

Respect is irrespective of wealth- it's to do with a person's actions. I am equally respectful of "poor" people who work hard just to pay their bills and contribute to society.

What a strange question to ask

I'm not English, either.

I certainly don't respect Italian rich people who take up residency in Montecarlo to avoid paying taxes.

I do respect people who work hard (which doesn't necessarily make you "rich").
I really don't have problems at all with wealthy people, as long as they don't moan about paying taxes.

Yeah, thanks rich people. Thanks for being so incredibly self-sacrificing. Thank you especially to those of you that were born into wealth and have done fuck all to earn it while the majority slave away.

Once again, thank you.

I think we like to despise everyone actually.

Have a healthy disrespect for everyone, me!

Long - PG has indeed created thousands of jobs in the UK - and has also made millions of pounds out of us. He's laughing. I'm not a fan.

What franca said - like to see less of gap between the very rich and the very poor.

Benefit scroungers should be lumped together with the rich who have off-shore accounts, and curious tax arrangements to evade UK tax.

I'll be waiting a LONG time for Cameron and Osborne to get round to talking about that... but morally there's absolutely no difference

There's a difference between legal tax avoidance (ISAs etc) and evasion.

avoiding tax is only acting rationally if you are a selfish bugger who thinks someone else should pay for roads, schools, hospitals, bin collections, etc. etc.

Only reason tax avoidance is legal while benefits cheating ain't is that one of these things is done by the wealthy while the other by the poor. And it's not the poor who make the law. Or lobby, wine and dine the law makers. Or buy themselves seats in the House of Lords.

"avoiding tax is only acting rationally if you are a selfish bugger who thinks someone else should pay for roads, schools, hospitals, bin collections, etc. etc."

Or if you dont like being taken for a fool Edam.

The UK has become a cesspit of dependancy and entitlement. Its no wonder the big contributors are moving offshore.

What's foolish about thinking taxation funds bin collections, schools and hospitals?

The rich are free to piss off if they don't like it.

Bin collections? Thats council tax.

If the 'rich' were to piss off the middle and lower would be truly fucked. There would be no more free schooling or healthcare.

I cant be bothered to search for the figures now, but the top 5% of earners pay about 30% of all taxation in this country or something.

The only way to encourage them to stop moving away/avoiding tax is to make the UK more competitive. Globalisation has undercut the taxation market. Why pay 40% in the UK when you can pay less in Monaco?

The UK cant tax what it cant legally touch, and no amount of 'fuck em' attitude will change that. At the end of the day, they count. We dont.

yes, dear, the clue is in the word 'tax'.

I think all the rich people should go, as should the bankers who bring millions into the economy and all us poor people should be left to run the country
I vote for house prices to be slashed and everybody be paid the same rate say £10 per hour and then we will have no rich people

I cannot do with the rich people on telly
secret millionare,dragons den the apprentice etc. They should fuck off and spend their money elsewhere