to think that in the UK we love to hate rich people?

[InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest]

Looking at a few threads here it seems that there is a definite trend that sees a lot of us in the UK loving to hate rich people. Why is that? Why do we resent them? Sure, I'd love to have lots of money and not need to worry but I don't resent those who do have it.

And yet there is so much vitriol on MN directed at people with money. Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble... Enlighten me please. Because I'm almost embarrassed IRL to admit I'd actually love to be rich!

I think people dislike big business - not well-off people.

I don't hate rich people. Even as a kid, I never thought that I should have what others had or felt jealous. The tax keeps the economy going - obviously.

@efg456 how does 50% go to the tax man , when one high rate is 40 % and thats when you hit that mark and two Putting into pensions etc also saves tax even at 10 k each thats a fair amount tax saved, many won't have 10 k in a pension after many years

@mustlovegin

And yet there is so much vitriol on MN directed at people with money

A lot on MN are lefties

Odd when without their tax money we'd be in a lot of trouble

Very true

Nah. I'm left as fuck but I don't get this very British trait / hobby about hating rich people and inverted snobbery. It's weird as hell to non-British people and it's cultural trait that's talked about widely amongst non-Brits. Brits are stuck in some kind of Dickensian time warp where everyone tries to out-poor each other.

@QuitMoaning

I have seen a comment on MN that literally said “I hate all rich people”.

I have never seen a comment saying “I hate poor people”.

No its normally phrased as should I report for benefit fraud and then the poor bashing begins

To this day nobody has been able to explain why it’s hypocritical to be a higher earner and be a liberal? Just because you earn more than average you shouldn’t care about others or the climate etc?

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil I know. People automatically assume that just because you're liberal you have be to be poor. NOPE. Fuck that noise. I'd rather have an easier time of life and support those who don't with the money I make.

[quote worriedatthemoment]@efg456 how does 50% go to the tax man , when one high rate is 40 % and thats when you hit that mark and two Putting into pensions etc also saves tax even at 10 k each thats a fair amount tax saved, many won't have 10 k in a pension after many years
[/quote]
Because once to hit a certain point you pay 45% tax + NI + full tax on any pension contributions. You also loose your tax allowance so pay in every penny you earn.

The new pension changes were the big one. There was a big issue in the NHS with consultants not working overtime when it came in. Because earning an extra £100 could cost you tens of thousands in tax as the contributions become 'post tax' rather than 'pre tax'. You'll then also pay tax on these contributions again when you draw the pension.

I don’t actually hate anybody but I do dislike people exploit their situation to put others down.

To this day nobody has been able to explain why it’s hypocritical to be a higher earner and be a liberal

Because they want to do good and help 'the poor' with other people's money (usually while drinking champagne). That's why.

You are right. Being rich is a crime in the U.K. I have discussed this many times. There is a lot of reverse snobbery and people vilified privately educated children.

Agree OP, it's jealousy - plain and simple

@CatsArePeople

its pretty normal to sneer at unearned privilege. like the landed gentry.

It only takes one gambler or spendthrift to undo several generations of careful management, and a number of landed families have became de-landed that way. CatsArePeople - since you enjoy sneering at such people, look up Lord Hesketh and Lord Lovat, for example. You will thoroughly enjoy reading about their loss of land and fortune.

Because it's unequal and unfair and getting worse. 'The gap between the richest in society and the rest of the population has widened over the 10-year period; the income share of the richest 1% increased from 7% to 8.3% between FYE 2011 and FYE 2020.' ONS

You are not wrong OP. UK has developed a low aspiration culture as result of this hatred of rich people or sometimes just successful people. Many fall over themselves trying to show how they are oh so poor and very under privileged. Then you get the ridiculous statements from some saying how they value happiness over money. Only the rich can actually afford to be philosophers and come out with statements like this.
It is a national pastime to loathe those with money yet the majority are not net contributors and the 1% pay 28% of all tax. The faux humility is so transparent and tiresome as well as disingenuous.

@OhWhyNot

It’s fashionable among many lefties to dislike the wealthy

The stupidity of it is that many of this type of lefties are wealthy to the majority of people they are always wittering on about they are happy to pay more tax. Well as they are not taxed more I often wonder why they don’t spend their time doing some volunteer work rather than wring their hands constantly about the state of our society

Everyone’s a socialist, until they can’t get an iPhone. Idiots.

@sst1234

You are not wrong OP. UK has developed a low aspiration culture as result of this hatred of rich people or sometimes just successful people. Many fall over themselves trying to show how they are oh so poor and very under privileged. Then you get the ridiculous statements from some saying how they value happiness over money. Only the rich can actually afford to be philosophers and come out with statements like this. It is a national pastime to loathe those with money yet the majority are not net contributors and the 1% pay 28% of all tax. The faux humility is so transparent and tiresome as well as disingenuous.

Nonsense. It’s not about a lack of aspiration. It’s about the fact that those with aspiration are less likely to be able to succeed in our current society, unless they have decent start in life.

@mustlovegin

To this day nobody has been able to explain why it’s hypocritical to be a higher earner and be a liberal

Because they want to do good and help 'the poor' with other people's money (usually while drinking champagne). That's why.

Please do read Gary Neville’s piece in the Times. He sums it up well.

Hate it when rich people use their money and power and therefore influence to do bad things and get away with it. Because when you’re rich laws don’t seem to apply in the same way. Fines don’t stop them.

I have a very wealthy cousin who talks about how poor people just ‘lack aspiration and a strong work ethic’ (she hasn’t said this directly to me but I’ve seen her make comments on social media). Yes, she works hard but she also has no children, married a millionaire and has wealthy parents who gave her every opportunity available to help her up the ladder e.g. she never had to work while she was studying, she never had to pay her parents any money when living with them as an adult, they paid her private rent when she moved out and a large deposit towards buying her first home. According to her though she’s just a ‘hard worker who made it by herself’.
I honestly don’t think most privileged people have any genuine understanding of how privileged they are. She’s a lovely person but it’s that kind of attitude that riles me, not the fact that she has lots of money.

I agree with what you said @LaetitiaASD

I also think a person’s health and the health of their family has a huge impact on their lives which directly impacts their ability to earn money.

OP, landlords don't provide housing. They stockpile it. This prevents other people from buying a home.

Rich people stockpile money and resources. It's taking the money and resources out of circulation that's the killer.

The movie In Time illustrates why we hate the rich. They cause poverty by stockpiling.

When I see people do well for themselves I’m happy for them and I use it as motivation to try better myself 🤷🏼‍♀️

@savvy7

The system is broken. The government should have brought in a higher tax band instead of increasing Ni across the board. But then they receive lots of donations from wealthy billionaires and the like.

Why would wealthy billionaires lobby and donate to avoid a higher tax band that would never affect them in the slightest anyway?

It's impossible to become rich without exploiting the labour of people poorer

By and large, I think that's true, but there are significant exceptions.

I always think that it's not having the money or enjoying/making use of it that's the problem - it's when you get to the point of worshiping it, obsessing over it, thinking it's the only mark of your (and by extension, everybody else's) worth or lack thereof - that's when it really becomes pointless.

By way of analogy, we're not on a water meter - it's rateable (band B) value, so this means that we could take thousands of Olympic-sized swimming pools-worth of water each day. But, guess what: we have no need for more than the tiniest micro-fraction of that, so there would be no point or benefit in our taking it anyway and stockpiling it; thus we take what we need and ignore all the rest that we don't need.

I think the saddest thing about most of the mega rich is that their money consumes their whole life and, instead of being a tool to make it nicer and easier, it becomes its purpose. A poor person worries intensely about where they can get the extra £20 they need for new school shoes or to put the heating on when it's freezing (I've certainly been there); but ironically, so many multi-millionaires and billionaires will spend much of their lives protecting what they have, fretting about investments, growth, capital share, maintaining their position in next year's ST Rich List etc. - so in one way of looking at it - their sense of inner peace - they aren't even any better off than those with barely anything.

Whatever the source of their wealth, it's largely their attitude to it that matters and, indeed, how they treat their employees and others much poorer than them (as well as paying their FAIR dues - not just what their accountants can get away with). Mike Ashley and John Timpson are both very rich men; I'm not saying that either of them is perfect, but my opinions of them both could barely be wider apart.

I don't think it's that people hate the rich in general, specific rich people who because they have money think they're better than everyone else, yes, but that's because of their attitude.

I think it's more that people are angry that the system is so clearly not working for so many.