SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 57,736
There is definitely some of that going on, particularly in inflation-adjusting earnings creep. That is a flaw in the current system, though, and one that most policy analysts and economists have been pointing out from even before the pandemic. Much of those issues stem from having a truly historically long period of relative price stability that lulled policymakers in to ignoring the underlying dangers of inflation impacts on real wages and, subsequently, effective tax obligations (the old “it will always be sunny because the sun is out today” problem).I think there is an element of economic sleight of hand going on with the tax bands remaining the same for so long. The triple lock looks like it will now put pensioners into the top band, and 30-60k is now where a lot fairly ordinary earners sit. My own job now puts me firmly in the 40p tax bracket whereas it was nowhere near that 10 years ago. Granted wages have gone up but nowhere near as much as prices and property so we are all getting poorer in real terms.
I think the Tories have absolutely jumped on that and have intentionally avoided correcting that flaw, though, as it benefits the narrative that overall wealth has increased amongst the lower ends of the wealth distribution.