to ask all of the 1% here (anyone earning over £20'000) what you are doing to help the 99%?

[ethnicalMarion]

If your earn over 20k in the UK you are part of the 1%. Aibu to think that this 1% should be helping the 99% of the world more?

Technically if you have debt you are poorer than the poorest in the world.

I've been close to the UK 1% and by virtue have paid my fair share of tax. The gov gives aid to needy countries so we all do our bit indirectly.

Additionally though I also give to charity regularly and even though I'm self employed do unpaid work in schools to help with promoting STEM.

Other countries may have a lower cost of living, but people there are still poorer, even after adjusting for that.

Does that 1% globally count cost of living?

Someone earning the equivalent of 20k will be very rich in some countries of the world, but barely able to scrape by in others.

Even in the UK you can buy way more for your 20k up north than down south. You couldn't expect a 20k Londoner to have as much spare cash as elsewhere.

Both DH and I support different charities, although his are more supporting the 99% than mine I suppose (his are Oxfam and Water Aid, mine are Magic and Wish Upon a Star). We donate clothes/shoes/toys/books to Oxfam and buy quite a bit back too. We also sponsor a child via Plan.

I have no problem helping other people, but finding a way of helping which wont be absorbed by corrupt governments can be difficult.

And we need to justify ourselves to you because...?

The 1% generally refers to 99% of the worlds riches being in the pocket of 1% of the worlds population, that's who the 1% are. The elite, the establishment, not Kevin from Doncaster earning 20 grand working at the Halifax.

My answer is similar to imyourhuckleberry

I pay tax, shop local, volunteer with 2 charities as well as donate to others, all within a household income of £36k (that's 2 salaries) which is likely to drop soon as DP is being made (redundant.

Theoretician, no one gets free NHS coverage or education. It is only free at point of delivery - we are all paying for it via taxation.

£20,000 in london when the rent is £1300 per month for a one bed..... (Cheapest we could find) Your figures are very wrong. We left london as couldnt afford food and rent. I was on a £20 per week budget for food and everything else like shampoo, cleaning stuff everything. We lived by overdraft. Never bought clothes and dont have any smartphones and didnt run a car......

OP, if you want a debate you need to come back and answer some of the points people have made.

Someone earning £20k/year in the UK is not better off than someone earning half of that in a country where salaries, house prices and food are four times cheaper.

^^

This. I used to live in China on a teacher's salary (which worked out about £250 per month plus rent if you exchanged it for GBP). I lived the life of Reilly - meals out in nice restaurants, weekend trips to far flung parts of the country, as many new clothes as I wanted.

Then I came back to the UK and found that I could barely afford to eat because rent and utilities bills took up all my money. On the up side I got good a clothing repair.

Ethnical what exactly are you doing?

Technically if you have debt you are poorer than the poorest in the world.

Technically, debt greater than your assets.

And countries with lower living costs do have people who are poor, but those there on the exact same income as in the UK (say, the 20k) are not poorer than those with that income in the UK, on the contrary.

I don't like to take stats at face value. So this magic 1% is from an economist's book and to check how he calculated the figure and whether his research was rigorous you have to buy his book? Nah.

Ha ha 20k? Really? In most parts of the UK that's barely enough to not have to live in shared accommodation! And if it's so much why is 20k within the limits for child tax credit etc?
Sorry but I've never heard such a load of drivel. On 20k and you should be helping others? I think paying your tax is about right!

I pay my (higher rate) taxes without complaint. Fuck off with your entitlement to my hard earned wages

^^ exactly this!

I'm sorry but WTAF?

OP, yes, I think YABU.

I don't think people need to justify themselves to the OP. It's none of her bloody business.

I pay taxes. And I work my ass off. This year we are having the first family holiday for 7 years. And it is camping in the UK - which is all we can afford.

Fringe, some people DO get free NHS care. The ones who do not pay most taxes because they do not work.

I pay tax. I sometimes donate to charity, but probably not as much as I could. I'm not sure it's better to have high tax and lots of universal benefits for everyone in the country if that discourages the payment of tax or pays for an unsustainable western lifestyle. I like that in the UK taxes are low. I can choose which charities benefit from my giving. Maybe it would be a good idea to mandate charitable giving above a certain income but leave the charity choice to the individual.

I am stunned that some posters are actually defending/justifying/explaining where they spend their 'riches!'

sorry, I realise that was snippy.

The OP has really got my back up.