Read on Twitter
I suspect Mr 5% was trying to argue that the top 5% of the *salaried* is not the same as the top 5% of people (some of whom will have inherited wealth or wealth generated in the past)? Even if true, he made a mess of it. https://twitter.com/KeejayOV2/status/1197653765777772550
But on a *perception* level, one can understand where he's coming from without condoning the sentiment.
Mr 5% is from the Bolton area and is probably proud of what he's achieved. And yet he'll look around (especially when visiting London/South East) and feel small again.
Mr 5% is from the Bolton area and is probably proud of what he's achieved. And yet he'll look around (especially when visiting London/South East) and feel small again.
Earning £81k pa does not a "rich" man make.
Chatting with a South East friend over dinner a few years ago, he moaned how the rich - "the top 10%" - should pay more tax. On c.£90k pa at the time, I told him he was in the top 10% and probably the top 5%. He didn't feel it.
Chatting with a South East friend over dinner a few years ago, he moaned how the rich - "the top 10%" - should pay more tax. On c.£90k pa at the time, I told him he was in the top 10% and probably the top 5%. He didn't feel it.
Of course he didn't - he lives in an average 1960s end-terrace house yet is surrounded by obvious wealth, miles deep.
Mr 5% may be proud of what he earns, but he still sees a "huge number" of people with more than him. And I'd guess he has no inheritance coming.
Mr 5% may be proud of what he earns, but he still sees a "huge number" of people with more than him. And I'd guess he has no inheritance coming.
These salaried people's perception is that they are striving and stressing daily yet it's never enough. "There's still a large swathe of the country who can afford the houses & lifestyles" they once dreamt of.
So they get pissed off when threatened with more tax.
So they get pissed off when threatened with more tax.
Where they've gone wrong is they've lost perspective & lost sight of the millions on minimum wage and below average wage. I don't know about Bolton but that's very easy to do in the South East where a household income of £100k doesn't feel like much.
And that creates Mr 5%s.
And that creates Mr 5%s.
(And I'm not actually sure that viewing the stats from a wealth perspective rather than an income perspective makes much difference to the picture of where personal wealth resides anyway. Mr 5% is still more likely than not to be in the top 5%.)
