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\title{When the middle is the top}
\date{August 3, 2009}
\author{Anarcho}
\subtitle{Class and inequality in neo-liberal Britain}
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{\usekomafont{title}{\huge When the middle is the top\par}}%
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{\usekomafont{subtitle}{Class and inequality in neo-liberal Britain\par}}%
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\par
\textbf{The Daily Mail} (27\textsuperscript{th} July 2009) got itself into a little bit of a frenzy recently when it reported that David Cameron suggested that \emph{“the better-off must share the pain of repairing public finances”} and so \emph{“tax credits for households on £50,000 a year or more could no longer be justified.”} This would mean 130,000 families losing an average £500 a year. Cameron is quoted as saying that \emph{“we’ve got to be able to demonstrate to people that this is fair and seen to be fair and that everyone is putting their shoulder to the wheel”} and \emph{“that means the wealthy have to pay their fair share.”}
This was presented as a \emph{“tax raid”} on the middle classes by the Mail, as \emph{“part of an honest and frank conversation about balancing the books ‘elements’ of middle-class welfare payments would have to be re-examined.”} The first step would be to \emph{“rein in tax credits by axing payments to middle-income families”} and disqualifying a household for child tax credit if its income is below £58,000 (or £66,000 with a child less than a year old).
While the gnashing of teeth by the \textbf{Daily Mail} is to be expected, what is perhaps less obvious is the shear gall of their protest. This is because, in the highly unequal society produced by 30 years of Thatcherism, earning over £50,000 does not make you \emph{“middle-class”} or a \emph{“middle-income”} family. It puts you squarely in the top 5\% of the population in terms of income. Yes, really, according to the \textbf{Daily Mail} the bottom-end of the top 5\% is the middle!
Here are so facts about neo-liberal Britain the likes of the \textbf{Daily Mail} fail to mention. In terms of number of taxpayers, there are 1,680,000 earning over £50,000 a year. There are 28,590,000 under that amount so just under 6\% of taxpayers earn more than Cameron’s suggested cut-off point. The median (50\textsuperscript{th} percentile point) of taxed income is £16,400, for the 90\textsuperscript{th} percentile point it is £39,000 and for the 95\textsuperscript{th} it is £52,400. Median earnings for employees in 2007 were £19,943 per year while mean earnings were just £24,908. The 90\textsuperscript{th} percentile earned £42,902. In terms of Annual Net Household income, the 95\textsuperscript{th} percentile of households has £50,000 (the 99\textsuperscript{th} has £75,000). To be in the top 25\% of wealth holders, you need to have \$76,098 and they hold 72\% of total UK wealth. The top 1\% has 21\% of the total, the top 5\%, 53\%.
It is a strange world to inhabit when a suggested policy which will affect well under 10\% of a population is considered an attack on the “middle-class”. In a way, this is to be expected given that neo-liberalism makes the rich richer and squeezes the middle (and crushes the bottom) in order to do so. It would be too much to expect those, like the \textbf{Daily Mail}, who wholeheartedly supported Thatcherism to acknowledge the results of that onslaught on the British people – including the very “middle-classes” whose one goal seems to be to emigrate to continental Europe to escape the effects of what they voted for repeatedly since 1979\dots{}
But, luckily for the readers of the \textbf{Daily Mail} 1997 is year zero and New Labour are a socialist party who are definitely have been \textbf{not} implementing Thatcherite policies for the last 12 years. And, of course, the solution to \emph{“Rip-off Britain”} is to vote for the Tories who promise exactly the same neo-liberal policies as Thatcher did in 1979\dots{}
What could possibly go wrong? Luckily the readers of the \textbf{Daily Mail} have the EU, foreigners, single mothers, \emph{“benefit scroungers”} (for those unemployed before the credit crunch, of course), trade unionists and a host of others to blame for their current and future situation\dots{}
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The Anarchist Library (Mirror)
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Anti-Copyright
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Anarcho
When the middle is the top
Class and inequality in neo-liberal Britain
August 3, 2009
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Retrieved on 29\textsuperscript{th} January 2021 from \href{https://anarchism.pageabode.com/?p=293}{anarchism.pageabode.com}
In the highly unequal society produced by 30 years of Thatcherism, earning over £50,000 does not make you \emph{“middle-class”} or a \emph{“middle-income”} family. It puts you squarely in the top 5\% of the population in terms of income. Yes, really, according to the \textbf{Daily Mail} the bottom-end of the top 5\% is the middle!
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\textbf{usa.anarchistlibraries.net}
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