8 in 10 Brits are concerned that the wealthy don’t contribute their fair share of taxes
18 MAY 2023
75% of people (including 72% of 2019 Tory voters) are concerned that people with net wealth of £10m or more have too much influence on the political system
69% of people are concerned that some people in the UK are this wealthy while others live in poverty, and 65% about unequal opportunities to accumulate wealth
68% of people (including 64% of 2019 Tory voters) think the government should be doing more to tax high net worth individuals (those with £10m or more)
Asked about sources of wealth, people are most positive about entrepreneurs, followed by landlords, and most negative about city traders and old-money heirs
How do different sources of wealth affect attitudes to it?
We asked people for their views about seven different characters, each of which have accumulated £5 million in a different way. For each character, we asked five questions, each with two possible answers (below), and asked respondents to pick the answer they most agreed with in each case (or neither, if they were unsure).
Green bars show the percentage of respondents who agreed with the first statement, red bars the second (grey bars mean unsure). Breakdowns are available for 2019 Conservative and Labour voters. To reduce respondent fatigue, each respondent only answered questions about three of the seven characters, chosen at random.
Accumulating wealth in this way…
The new-money heir
…has inherited £5m from their parents, who had built up a successful business from scratch
The old-money heir
…has inherited £5m from their father, whose family has been wealthy for many generations
The landlord
…has accumulated £5m by building a large portfolio of rental properties over their lifetime
The entrepreneur
…has accumulated £5m by building a business from scratch and then selling it
The investor
…has accumulated £5m by extracting dividends from a hedge fund that they started up
The finance whizz
…has accumulated £5m by being paid large bonuses every year as a successful city trader
The sports star
…has accumulated £5m by being paid a large salary for 15 years as a footballer
Looking across all five questions, it’s clear that most people think that opportunities to make lots of money aren't evenly spread, and that many have achieved their wealth more through luck than by hard work.
This view holds for all characters with the exception of entrepreneurs, and to some extent landlords, both of whom are viewed more favourably by the public. Views about fairness and positive impact on society are split, while large numbers are unsure about taxation (although the issue of taxing wealth is examined in more detail in a separate question).
Comparing ‘net approval ratings’ for the seven characters, the entrepreneur comes out clearly ahead, scoring high in terms of having earned their wealth fairly (and more through hard work than luck) and their positive impact on society, although many people do not think that everyone has an equal chance to become one. The second most positively viewed character is the landlord, followed by the new-money heir and then the investor. Bringing up the rear are the sports star, the finance whizz and the old-money heir.
The differences between 2019 Conservative and Labour voters are not as large as might be expected. Conservative voters are often broadly in line with the national average.
However, where they do diverge, the differences are sometimes surprising. For example, for several characters, Conservative voters are more, rather than less, likely than the average respondent to believe that accumulating wealth in this way is only possible for some people in society.
Views about high net worth individuals
Most people are concerned that high net worth individuals (defined as people with net wealth of £10m or above) aren't paying enough taxes and have too much influence on politics. On these issues, Conservative voters are in lockstep with the general public. People are also worried about the socio-economic impacts of wealth inequality, in terms of both equal opportunities and equal outcomes.
When asked about the overall acceptability of people accumulating large amounts of wealth, most people place themselves somewhere towards the middle on a scale between two opposing views (red: it’s unacceptable, e.g. because it harms opportunities for others, and green: it’s acceptable, e.g. because it rewards and incentivises hard work).
Two in three respondents (including 64% of 2019 Tory voters) think that the government should being doing more to tax high net worth individuals. This question does not distinguish between taxes on income and taxes on wealth, or between the design of the tax system (rates, allowances etc) and its operation (such as cracking down on tax avoidance).
