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?

oh hang on, you don't think tax for internation aid does count, so you dont like organised donation of money by governments, how exactly do you think is an acceptable way to hand over money to poorer people then?

And do you count giving money to the 99% within the UK? Like the unemployed, pensioners without private pensions, those unable to work because of disabilities and those earning less than £19k? You know, benefits, that is money taken from those who earn more and given to people who have a low or £0 income otherwise...

Or do foreign poor people only count?

To be fair to the OP they don't understand the difference between mean average and mode average so......

The mode (ie most common) wage in the UK is around £15,600 and according to the HBAI report this year c.60% of the UK population are below the mean average wage.

ethicalmarion, as we've all pointed out to you in various ways the 1% in a world context is irrelevant as it doesn't factor in enough relevant information such as outgoings - i.e. any economist will tell you it's disposable income that counts not fucking gross income!!

I spend loads to (help) grandchildren, nieces and nephews children and old friends' grandchildren and neighbours' grandchildren! I have disposable income ! I am narcissitic like the rest of the world and the house is full,but I like stuff.

I am the old loon who buys boutique outfits,toys, books and yes even sends postcards or little surprises worldwide to usurp Mother's rules.If these go into charity shops because they are not 'suitable' for some reason,there is my charity right there.

What Anyfucker said with my tongue sticking out!

I guess I am. I don't have any family money or wealth, but I earn a lot. I paid c £600k in income tax last year and donated c £100k post-tax income to charity. I invest in start up businesses. I sit on the board of a legal aid centre and I always recycle.

Is that enough or do I have to hand over the rest of it?

I also do nothing.

And I hate this whole "you're lucky you earn so much". No I'm fucking not. I've grafted and grafted for years to get the experience to land me the interview, and I'm doing a degree after work and when the kids are in bed.....that's not lucky, that's graft.

I didn't happen to be in the right place at the right time. Succeeding in a career is nothing to do with luck, and all about determination, hard work and desire to make your life better. ffs.

I say I do nothing, but me and my husband pay tax. And we have private health care....I don't feel guilty about not doing more. I have two children whom I want to spare from the type of childhood me and my husband had, and many of their little friends have. We want them to want better than what we could give them.

Frankly I think I do enough!

I take home a fraction of what I earn due to tax, which helps people.

I give to charity.

Plus I worked my bloody arse off at school and uni to get the job I have whereas others didn't and now whinge they can't get a job as they've no qualifications. Plus I'm Still paying off my student loan.

I appreciate some folk cannot get good education due to circumstances like background, illness, having to support family. But there are a lot of bone idle folk out there who I'm not prepared to help.

£20k is definitely NOT the top 1%. Tax allowance is £10k!

So exactly what is it that you think I should be doing?

Op, the article you referred to is American, and says:

"In America, the top 1% earn more than $380,000 per year. We are, however, among the richest nations on Earth. How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?"

380.000 dollars is £253,451.61

I can only assume OP, that you earn MUCH less than 20k, and feel entitled to some cash handouts from people earning more than you.

To be fair to the OP Quint the next sentence says: " How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?

$34,000." So it is about £20,000 or a bit more for the top 1% of the world.

IT'S STILL IRRELEVANT THOUGH!

To start any debate surely the premise has to be logical to start with?

I started this thread as so many around here blame the 1% for anything and everything wrong.

But I don't see anyone in the top 1% of global earners here crying out to pay more tax.

"The 1%" of the occupy movement are the richest people in the world. Not those earning perfectly average wages compared to the cost of living in their country.

Oh, and they don't directly blame the 1% on an individual personal level but blame the systems that result in such inequalities.

Maybe because in the UK and other similar countries a huge slice of anyone's income is already taken out.
And as pointed out earlier, it doesn't solve much of the problems of the 99% in the rest of the world to just pour money into them. Not if it's spent on guns or put back in 1st world countries by their rulers.

It's how money is spent that is the problem. Or how it's distributed in each country. Not only around the world.

You can compare countries, and expense levels like for like. Earning 20k in Congo where the gross national product per capita is $394 (2013 figures) will go much further than in the UK where living costs are much much higher.

I am not sure how much I am helping people in Congo exactly, but I give to Christian Aid, Red Cross, Cancer research and the Alzheimer association. In addition to that, appeals as they crop up, like for Ebola. I also pay tax.
20k does not go far in London, for a family of four, though.

You sound very simplistic, OP, and without a grasp of what actually happens around the world.

Even with my salary I can only just afford cost of living.

Why should I pay more blinking tax?? I'm about to have my first DC, I'm stressed to hell about how we are going to afford it because cost of living is so high and here someone thinks I should be paying even more to benefit other people. What about my own children? Don't they deserve a good start in life? I'd quite like to be able to afford to give my kids a good start thanks, hence I worked my ass off to get my salary for that purpose.

Aibu to think that this 1% should be helping the 99% of the world more?

Do you want a serious answer?

I'm a higher rate tax payer who doesn't try to dodge tax in any way. And at the moment, God willing, I don't draw on the public purse except for a GP visit maybe once every 18 months, and my share of the law & order in which we live. I pay enough to keep several families and I'm saving so I'll be as little a drain on the public purse in my old age as possible.

I work in education, so contribute to one of the most important ways of keeping our society civil and liberal. And I work way over my paid hours (near enough to double) so I give of my time voluntarily to educate the next generation.

But I suspect you're not entirely serious, and just want to bash anyone earning more than you.

BTW the average annual wage is nearer to £25k and I think you'll find the 1% in this country are earning over £100k. But don't let facts get in the way of a good bashing-the-almost-rich

So, suppose I earn £20k and pay 50% tax to keep you happy. Leaves me with £10k a year or around £833 per month. Our rent is £650 a month, council tax £120, gas £50, electric £50, water £40 - and this is in Manchester, not London. Rent is actually below market as we're renting from BIL......spotting any problems yet??? And this is assuming the £20k is NETT.

ethicalmarion, you're not listening to what people are telling you. Do you really not understand about the different cost of livings between countries? Can you not grasp that £20,000 in the UK is not a lot? If you're going to start a debate you need to interact with the other posters and respond to what they're saying. Tip - the right response here is oh, I see what you mean, silly me!

Btw, I don't see anyone on here blaming their circumstance on the top 1% - perhaps the top 1% in the UK, not the world's top 1% which is irrelevant.

Why should the top 1% pay more tax? To who? Their individual governments? And then what? The UK government in this case distributes that money to various countries around the world, as we are talking the world going by what you've written? So how would that work in practice?