According to the most recent study from the UK charity Equality Trust, Britain spends more than any other OECD country on supporting structural inequality in favour of the wealthy.
In comparison to the typical OECD countries, Britain pays £106.2 billion ($133.8 billion) yearly to subsidise income, wealth, and power inequalities, according to the Cost of Inequality report. According to the analysis, inequality costs the UK £128.4 billion ($161.8 billion) each year in damage to the economy, communities, and individuals when compared to the top five most equal countries.
“Inequality has made the United Kingdom more unhealthy, unhappy, and unsafe than our more equal peers,” said Priya Sahni-Nicholas, the trust’s co-executive director. “It is also causing huge damage to our economy: We have shorter healthy working lives, poorer education systems, more crime, and less happy societies.”
According to the survey, the richest 1% of Britons are the most protected top 1% group in Europe, paying lesser taxes than wealthy people in any other significant European country. According to the researchers, inequality is more than just economics; it is a culture that divides and makes social mobility hard.
“The mere fact of being born outside the 1% has a dramatic impact on the rest of your life: it reduces your life expectancy, as well as educational and employment opportunities, and has an impact on your mental health.” The cost of the super-rich is simply too great for the rest of us, according to Sahni-Nicholas.
In the 1970s, the United Kingdom was one of the most equal of rich countries. According to experts, it is now the second most unequal country behind the United States.
According to the research, the country’s over-reliance on financial systems that allow for big profits and wealth hoarding has hollowed down British infrastructure, encouraged enormous regional inequities, and made it vulnerable to shocks and recessions.
