Why someone on £80k might not feel rich

As in every election in recent memory, a debate has broken out over the point at which a person becomes ‘rich’ and is, therefore, able to cough up a bit more to fund public services. The magic number this time is £80k – the salary around which a person enters the top five per cent of all income tax payers and who, according to Labour, will be required to pay ‘a little bit extra’ to fund their massive splurge on public spending. There are roughly 1.5 million people in Britain who fall into the top five per cent, who already contribute 50.1 per cent of all income tax collected. When Andrew Neil pointed this out to Jeremy Corbyn  last night, he replied: ‘We think they could and should… pay a little bit more.’

Now, £80k is obviously a lot more than the average salary of £23k.  But one of the stranger things about this debate is that it is only ever gross incomes that are considered.