As protesters descend upon The London Stock Exchange to mimic the Occupy Wall Street protests, it got me wondering, what are they protesting about? Is it corporations paying low tax rates? If so they need to understand; corporations do not pay tax, individuals do.
If they are protesting individuals paying low tax, they need to know the facts, and I am sure they will not like them.
Just how many "rich" people actually live in the UK that need to be punished, I mean taxed.
I was very surprised to discover that according to the latest information on Wikipedia, which dates from 2010, just 16000 people in the UK earn between £500,000, and £1,000,000. Only 6000 individuals earn over £1,000,000 per year.
Of that 6000 I wonder how many are sportsmen or women and how many are actors and other entertainers? Not exactly wealth producers or creators, but yet mostly the ones lecturing us on inequality and a so called Robin Hood tax.
In addition, looking at the table for those earning over £100,000 we find it is only 411,000 individuals, from a total taxpaying base of 30 million people.
So just 1.4% of all taxpayers in the UK earn more than £100,000 per annum.
Which is interesting because According to the BBC:
New research conducted for BBC Panorama found that there were more than 38,000 public employees earning above £100,000 and 1,000 people on more than £200,000.
Did you read that? Of the 411,000 taxpayers earning more than £100,000 a staggering 39,000 are enjoying it from our taxes.
So let's face it, instead of calling for more tax, shouldn't we be cutting back on the state?
As the Taxpayer's Alliance have pointed out this week, an astonishing 12,000 people die from amenable death at the NHS. This is far higher than comparable European countries and despite the Health budget increasing from £49,000 Million in 1997 to £118,000 Million this year.
Now we know why; most of that cash has gone on increased salaries and consultants charging thousands of pounds per day. I guess that is why they call it blues sky thinking because it is unlikely to ever be cloudy on those salaries.
Higher taxes are not the answer. A smaller, more efficient state is. until that happens inequality will continue to grow, and thousands, hundreds of thousands will be condemned to earning minimum wage.
UPDATE:As great as the blood sucking leeches I think the UK public sector is, they are paragons of thrift when compared to Greece:
Civil servants of bankrupt Greece enjoy the most curious bonuses. Train engineers of the state-owned railroads, who make up to €7,000 a month, get an additional bonus for every driven kilometer. Their days off don't have 24 hours but 28 hours..........Plus they receive €420 a month for hand hygiene, a bonus that other railroad workers also get. Bus drivers of the state-owned transportation firms in Athens are paid for the time they spend commuting, and if they show up on time, they're paid an extra €310 a month. Messengers for ministries get an extra €290 a month if they carry documents.
Lucky the Germans are such big savers, otherwise there would be no chance of the Greeks getting their 13th and 14th month bonus at Christmas.
