To think rich people steal money all the time and that’s often why they’re rich?

[MyAmusedOpalCrab]

We hear so much about “hard work” and “smart investments” but let’s be honest, so many rich people didn’t get wealthy by being ethical. From dodgy business practices to exploiting workers, tax dodging, insider deals and straight-up corruption, wealth often comes at someone else’s expense.

Governments bail out billionaires while ordinary people struggle to afford rent. CEOs cut wages and benefits while pocketing massive bonuses. Huge corporations find loopholes to avoid taxes while the rest of us get squeezed.

Obviously not every rich person is a thief but AIBU to think that a lot of them are? That the system is rigged in their favour and they keep getting richer by bending or outright breaking the rules?

…and they already pay 30% of ALL income tax! 1% pay 30% of all income tax. That’s why all countries try their best to hang on to them.

Oh, and here enters the McXenophobic McRacist I was waiting for! 👏🏽

Haha, what? Your response doesn't make any sense...

Which class do you think is the richest? However, the more you have the more the system works for you. You can use Banks, Investment companies to minimise your liabilities, to move investments offshore, own homes via a Company registered offshore, counter HMRC or IR with expensive lawyers. If you are a Monarch you avoid Inheritance Tax completely because you got the rules changed. A substantial lottery win may see any of us taking advantage of financial advice or leaving to more financially advantageous places

like what?

I’ve thought about this lots of times over the years and I agree with you completely.
No matter how hard a person works you will not accumulate that sort of wealth through just pure ethical graft.
It’s either inheritance, a lot good luck, or shady, unethical practices and deals or a combination of the lot. What ever way you look at it, the person is wealthy due to a lot of people not being rich and being exploited.

It is when they pay the majority of tax in this country!

This thread is based on one thing.

ENVY.

That’s what I came to ask as well all have a different perception of what is rich!

I haven't read the thread or the updates but the rule of the thumb is that big fortunes are not made only with hard work. Call it stealing may be a bit too much but definitely they stretch the law, the opportunities and the possibilities in some many ways we can't even think about. So you have a point in my opinion.

Not in the slightest on my part at least. Hatred of unfairness. In what universe is it right for a few people to have more money than the annual budget of a small country when many, many others don’t have a roof over their head or enough to eat? I don’t know how they can sleep at night.

I don’t dispute what you say but I think this is also not really the debate. I manage money for a living and when you talk about serious wealth the scales really are tilted in their favour. For instance, huge government policy support has boosted asset prices which allows them to continually generate large earnings from buying up the assets. You throw in a tax system that then works in their favour (I.e collateralising to reduce tax bills) and it is no surprise inequality keeps getting worse.

So you think benefit cheats and boat people are responsible for the 51 billion?

Hatred of unfairness

Blossomtoes how much money can someone have before it becomes unfair?

More than they can spend in a lifetime.

So they should just… give it away?

A family member of mine became a millionaire over time. Do I consider him a thief? No. Did he sacrifice a lot? Probably too much.

"Don't look at me, look at them" a drop in the ocean compared to tax avoidance. Wake up.

@Helpmeplease2025 you can only work so much. People are working ft and ot, still have to claim uc to top up their take home pay. Working full time and having to get charity handouts to feed and dress their families. This is still a drop in the ocean compared to tax avoidance. Greed is the reason why some people have zilch and others have more than they could ever need.

This leaves the rest of us ' moderate' tax payers to pay for the 4 star hotels

Free gaming equipment etc for those huge numbers of 'boat people' that keep coming over every day

Spending tax money on this might not sit well with everyone, and that’s totally fair. But to put it in perspective, the UK brings in about £915 billion in tax revenue each year. The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels is around £3.1 billion.

That works out to just 0.34% of the total — a small fraction in the bigger picture.

Yes, you have come across a universal truth. Now you have discovered what most of us have known all our lives what are you going to do about it?
The answer, of course, is that there is nothing you can do except ensure that everything you yourself do is done with honesty and integrity. You will have to accept, though, that you will never be rich

That's £3.1 billion too much in my book.

Maybe the rich use their brains more to realise not to generalise? And what does the rich provide us that we wouldn't have otherwise

We may lose all the cheap crap we buy because we delude ourselves we need it, what other lifestyle choices would we have to give up? Holidays to sit in the sun for 2 weeks because there would be no airlines?

That's what your supposed to be - ignore the big issue & worry about the small ones

It's called the Matthew principle named for the passage in St. Matthew's gospel which says, " to them that hath shall be given more, and from them that hath not shall be taken away even that which they hath." Jesus was not saying it was right, he was saying that it will always happen.