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?

I don’t disagree, look at Musk.

I don’t think Labour are greedy, unprincipled people and I think if there was low hanging fruit re billionaires they would pick it but there isn’t. Very few economists bar the seriously questionable false prophet Gary Stevenson think we can simply tax our way out of the current predicament.

Put simply we are addicted to spending while believing work is optional. We also have an immigration crisis which is further exacerbating the supply/demand/cost issue. We need to curtail the rapid population increase and also curtail the financial responsibilities of the state because they are getting ridiculous. Millions in tax spent on 1 person type situations are frighteningly common.

And there was me thinking people were rich because they studied hard and worked hard, and all the time it was because they are thieves.

”For those who make the rules, there are no rules”
Tommy Shelby, Peaky Blinders

70% of our land is owned by 1% of our population
The richest 50 families in this country have the same wealth as the poorest 50% of the population.

We could be more like the Scandinavian countries and have excellent support for all. They haven't lost all their richest people because they like living there. We wouldn't lose our richest either if we taxed them fairly. They like living here.

It's a political choice. We can't spend all our money and go bankrupt as a country as we have a fiat currency ie we can print more or issue more bonds. Most of our debt we owe to ourselves.

It's a stupid choice to keep large swathes of our people unable or frightened to spend as this impacts on on the profitability of our industries etc. It's the eternal problem with capitalism - keep wages ( or benefits) very low and you make more profit. But, you are digging your own graves as there comes a time when too few people can buy so your company collapses leaving huge amounts of product you can't sell. Boom and Bust = the eternal contradictions of capitalism (Karl Marx I believe.)

They tax everyone in Scandinavia. Everyone pays very high taxes.

100%

It’s not stealing it’s just reallocating funds in the best interest of the directors and shareholders. But legally within their right to do so.

Yes but that land is overwhelmingly farmland, and occupied by tenant farmers.

We can’t just be like Scandinavia, we are an incomparable country with far higher population, far less natural resources, a different economic climate and a different society.

Perhaps you need to get some statistics

Rich people get rich because they have a skill or aptitude that others lack, they can spot opportunities, are prepared to take risks and they don't fritter their money once they make it but look for how they can make it grow. Some of them are dishonest chancers, but that goes for poor people too.

IMHO the amount of money someone has more or less correlates with how effective, dynamic and driven they are.

YABU.

ElizaMulvil · Today 19:29
70% of our land is owned by 1% of our population.

Whats your solution to this? Confiscate land off anyone who owns more than say 100 acres and divide it up into small holdings?

Is that you Angela Rayner?

I heard in a podcast that stamp duty land tax on second homes is waived if you buy six or more homes at once.
Apparently Jeremy Hunt took advantage of this.
It's this sort of thing I imagine OP is talking about. I fully agree. Tax the rich.
Also people like Clarkson and that Dyson who buy farms to avoid tax

So few people appreciate this! Get rid of the nil rate band and tax every penny of income, and start the high rates of income tax from the first penny of tax earned. That’s the Scandinavian way? Still keen for this? Because in the UK the high earners are already paying tax at ‘Scandinavian’ levels, it’s the low earners that aren’t pulling their weight. But that’s what you’d have to do to get Scandinavian services.

Have you looked at any plc’s tax strategy recently? Because if you do you’ll see that no plc will touch tax planning. I really don’t believe you when you talk of companies using complex planning, or property developers using unethical tax relief schemes because I work in the tax industry, and I can tell you that you are talking shite. Find something else to get angry about!

Anectdotal but the wealthiest people I know are generally the very tightest!
The wealthy need to pay their taxes ,
The businesses need to pay their taxes.
Like the rest of us .
That's it really.

This pisses me off too!!!!

I also hate cash in hand outlets such as barbers, nail salons etc that litter all of our high streets!

These are worse than the tradies as these are mainly not even legitimate businesses but fronts for money laundering.

The number of billionaires in the UK has decreased to 156 in 2025, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
This marks a decline from 165 billionaires in 2024 and is the largest drop in the list's 37-year history.

All the billionaires are leaving the UK at a increasing rate, so don't worry OP there will be no one left to upset you soon.

Are they leaving or have they just lost their billionaire status, ie some of their money?

Exactly. There are so many reasons this country has gone tits up. Everyone is exploiting the hell out of it (and each other!)

I would guess they’ve left.

The billionaires may as well leave if they are not paying their taxes or their company's taxes.
They aren't contributing if that is the situation.
Good luck in their new countries, they will have left behind one of the best countries in the world.
Sure we have problems, which country doesn't, but I am so thankful to live in the UK.

According to my DB they are leaving the UK and moving their money elsewhere. And not just the billionaires, but so many of the multi millionaires too.