A modest redistribution of wealth from the top to the bottom would give a pay rise of £40 a month to the lowest paid 25 per cent of the income scale, according to a new report from the High Pay Centre.
A modest redistribution of wealth from the top to the bottom would give a pay rise of £40 a month to the lowest paid 25 per cent of the income scale, according to a new report from the High Pay Centre.
The share of national income going to the top 1 per cent of the income distribution has more than doubled since 1979 to 14.5 per cent from 6 per cent.
At the same time wages for most of the population have stagnated, barely keeping up with inflation.
And government plans to give a tax break worth up to £2.7 billion to the top 1 per cent when the 50p rate is abolished in April means take home pay for the rich will become even more disproportionate, the report says.
But if those earning more than £150,000 took a 10 per cent pay cut and this went directly to the bottom 25 per cent, they would get a 55 per hour pay rise to £7.35, taking them closer to the national living wage of £7.45.
As well as being fair, this would inject spending power into the economy for those at the bottom, the report says.
Currently taxpayers subsidise low-paying employers to the tune of £4 billion with in-work cash transfers a year, it adds.
Inequality at a glance
. In 1979 the top 0.1 per cent took home 1.3 per cent of the national income; by 2007 this had grown to 6.5 per cent.
. The Gini co-efficient, an internationally recognised measure of inequality, was 0.240 in the UK in 1978, since then it has been increasing and in 2010/2011 it was 0.338.
. Someone on an annual salary of £500,000 takes home more in a month than the average person takes home in a year.
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61 Responses to “Modest redistribution of wealth would give £40 a month boost to lowest paid”
Mick
Edison lived, as we still do, in a world where if you don’t protect your great new stuff then people will duplicate ’em and undercut. Marconi’s a splendid example – his early wireless contained ordinary off-the-shelf parts, yet had to aggressively protect his patents like a bulldog because his livelihood would be gone if everybody could have just stolen his inventions.
And in this day and age, developments have charged so far ahead that even during a recession, virtually nobody is without a TV, cooker, fridge or phone.And so many varieties, despite your so-called bullies.
Mick
‘Keep calling anyone not just like you a “nutcase”.’
Well, if the cap fits. And a dunce’s one many a time, I have to admit. Especially as even mutualist websites aren’t pure enough for poor little Newsbot to accept as evidence.
Mick
It does indeed mean he shouldn’t be punished for being a bloke with nous, invention and finesse. If people like mutualists are going to steal from the pensions of brainy men, they they may as well just be one more regular guy all their lives.
A regular guy unable to give other regular guys the commodities they need, such as more efficient boilers, cheaper cookers or less wasteful motor cars.
Or maybe Newsbot was content with the world when we just had ox carts and only a handful of printing presses in the world.
Newsbot9
Yes, thanks for admitting that you’re a collectivist bigot. And thanks for admitting you’re a dunce too. How dare I not fall for false flag websites!
Newsbot9
Nope, again, I’m NOT for your world, where that’s true. And keep claiming that “regular guys” have billions.
Keep claiming that workers being paid properly is a punishment for them! (Tip – pensions are earned).