Reasons to be Impossible

From the BBC:

Over a five year period up to 2010 (the latest data available) the number of UK taxpayers with an annual taxable income over £10m more than doubled from 131 to 274.

In 2010 they owed £2.1 billion between them. This is a good and hard data. Whilst it doesn't cover all the super rich (after all, some manage to arrange their affairs so they don't have to pay tax on their super incomes); but we know that these 274 people had more than £10 million in earnings in 2010. My rough maths makes that a total of over £5 billion in annual income (or roughly £18 million each) that the tax was paid on. Note the curious fact that the figures increased dramatically after a fall due to the 2008 crisis. Now, inflation will be playing a big part in all this, but it does suggest some are benefiting nicely from the crisis, thank you. Now, some might be footballers, not all will be capitalists qua capitalists (a few barristers and lawyers might sneak in there) but it shows that out of 60 million, much fewer than 1% are doing very well indeed.

Labels: 316.34, Income distribution, Taxation