King calls for creative ways to tackle inequality

[AshLeaf]

AIBU to think this displays a breathtaking lack of self-awareness from one of the richest men in the world?

Well, how about you make a start with that Charles?!

Of course they are. But this isn't just rich people, it's people who are paid for by the taxes of poorer people.
Bill Gates for example built a company and earned his money. What has KC done to earn his wealth? Nothing except being born, theirs by the grace of God - highest form of entitlement 🙄

They need to move out of their own glass houses before they start throwing stones.

I think you can level the same at anyone who tries to do good works from a position of relative comfort.

I work with the homeless shelter every winter. I get to feel all self satisfied because I get up at 5am and do 3 hours there before work, two days a week. Then I go home to my comfortable life in my 4 bed house, which I have no intention of sharing.

Would it be better if I did nothing?

King Charles is not just "wealthy" though,

He occupies a position as Head of State that is denied to any and all of us and our children. Children who we have to tell to know their place and forget about ever aspiring to that position themselves.

Do you live in the uk? If you do, then you will likely be in the top 1% of the world, wealth wise.

Does this mean that you are not allowed to care about the wellbeing of others?

People who have never gone out to work already have other taxpayers’ money “redistributed” to them.

Exactly, the Royals who've lived a pampered, cosseted life paid for with inherited wealth and tax payers money should step down.

We should pay a Head of State a wage and get rid off this embarrassing anachronism. Some of their wealth should be used to make slavery repatriations since they benefited from it.

The majority of wealth is owned by a tiny percentage of people in this country. Don't worry about them, they're not concerned about you.

He does on the Duchy, which is now "owned" by William anyway. You can look at the accounts. Much of the revenue goes to charitable causes like The Princess Trust.

I mean you can bitch and moan about the inheritances, but these estates are held in trust. They are farmed, and lived in by tenants. They are not just acres of grass. They are active businesses.

Other supposed wealth like the royal palaces and the art and jewels, are "owned" by "the crown", effectively the sovereign country. They can't be sold.

But the wealth of people like Gates is created by Gates himself exploiting other people. Worse, in a way.

The majority of wealth is owned by a tiny percentage of people in this country.

And of those, a majority can trace their lineage back to William the Bastard and his dishing out of England to his cronies.

Any shift toward increased equity brings benefit. Not only to those at the bottom - it actually benefits those at the top, too. Health wise, it's better to be lower on the ladder in a high equity country than it is to be at the top in a low equity country.

And I don't think that you need to experience something to desire change. I feel very strongly about battery farming, and I've never been a hen.

How come The Independent reported in May then that;

The King’s personal wealth has jumped by £10 million to £610 million in the last year, according to analysis by The Sunday Times Rich List.

It's interesting that when you hear 'inequality' you assume it means I'm rich, you're not...and it's about wealth and wanting more money.

In this particular instance, he was talking about the inequality history throws up around colonialism and the slave trade and repatriations for that. So yes, obviously it's not fair blah blah, he has loads of dosh and you don't.

But in this instance, inequalities meant the language around power and inclusion for displaced/invaded/ruled peoples*. Not whether he can share out his millions with you.

*of the Commonwealth

@Paintbyalphabet
Catholic refers to most Western Christian Churches.Roman Catholicism refers to the Church that follows the Roman ritual (largest Church group) as opposed to the Eastern Orthodox group of Churches

Yes, he is talking about the inequality between Commonwealth nations. I still have the same issues about who is saying it. Pretty meaningless.

So C of E is Catholic for example but not the Greek Orthodox Church.
Are you just intending to appropriate all monies from the Western Churches or to also take wealth from other Church communities too?

Only 600 million? On a scale of the very wealthy, that doesn't even move the needle.

Mumsnet, where £100k is the minimum annual income needed to scrape by on the basics ...

This is the "there's always a bigger fish" thing.

Regardless of how well off you are, whether you're a billionaire, or have two pence to your name, there will ALWAYS be someone with less saying "easy for you to say, how about sharing your wealth."

Well the current trend of 11+, education and whatever else the UK is trying isn’t working well.
So maybe it will take more creativity than the tired old ideas of the past 50 yrs.
The dig on the Catholic Church??? Why not the Protestant or CofE or other wealthy institutions?

Doesn't he own the seabeds so is benefitting from offshore wind farms,? He could do something useful with that windfall (no pun intended) at least.

He owns a LOT of land in the UK including, I believe, Regent's Street.

So C of E is Catholic for example

We need to talk about transubstantiation and papal infallibility ....

11+ isn't fair because it's only in small pockets of the country. All the arguments against a grammar system actually support rolling one back out into every county.

Taxing the wealthy is the only way to redistribute wealth. It's no good telling them to sell their assets, some other wealthy person will just snap them up.

We need a taxation that looks beyond salary income into overall returns on investments and property (including art/car collections etc). If total growth in wealth is over £10m then apply a 2-5% tax on it.

We also need the government to start funding itself. By this, I mean to say not to be 100% reliant on income tax, VAT, Road tax etc. We need the government to own nationalised assets like Rail and Energy. Things that turn a profit, basically. We also need house-building to really kick off across the country - only a tiny (circa 10%) fraction of the country is built on.

Combining these approaches means that not only will the Government be able to fund projects, but it will be able to lower the income tax burden. Kick starting a huge house building programme will stabilise house prices for the next generation and therefore will allow the population to build wealth for themselves (property, savings, ISAs etc) and maybe even start to create generational wealth.

Obviously productivity is an issue. Both productivity and salaries have stalled in recent years. The Government really needs to unblock innovation in the UK in order to get this moving.

It's a bit of a mess to say the least, but should be doable if the country gets out of its own way.

The Kings estate should be liable to inheritance tax. It's outrageous that the Queen got the law changed.

The Sovereign Act 2011

The Monarch is not legally liable to pay income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax because the relevant enactments do not apply to the Crown. The same is true for the income from the Duchy of Cornwall which is paid to The Prince of Wales

They pay some tax voluntarily but still. So many seem to think the Queen was a decent person but she did some really shady things -

I really hate the Royal Family as an institution - I'm sure they are mostly ok as individuals but as a family they are truly awful self serving people. I have nothing but contempt for them.