Governments throughout Europe have cut spending and raised taxes due to the deepening recession. Many families are deep in debt.
Salaries in London's financial centre are rising again as the rest of the workforce tightens its belt. The number of taxpayers earning more than £1m a year has almost doubled in the past two years, prompting economists to claim that the highest-earning section of the population has bounced back from the financial crash. Official figures reveal that 18,000 people now earn at least £1m – the highest number recorded by HM Revenue & Customs. In 2010-11, 10,000 earned more than £1m, and in 1999-2000 there were only 4,000 earning such a salary. There is also growth further down the salary brackets, with 5,000 more earning £500,000 to £1m in 2012-13 compared with 2010-11, an extra 31,000 earning £200,000 to £500,000, and 7,000 more earning £150,000 to £200,000.
Britain has just over 1,000 ultra-high net worth households – those with more than $100m (£65m) in private financial wealth, not including property. Matthew Whittaker, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said the HMRC figures were a pointer that the super-rich had bounced back from the financial crisis and that a promised rebalancing of the economy had failed to materialise. “...the top 10% – but more particularly the top 1% – are moving away from the rest of society." he explained.
The trend of the growing disparity between the top-earning 1% and the rest of us is continuing. A recent report showed that if low to middle earnings were to rise by the 1.1% a year above inflation achieved in the past, average annual household incomes in this group would take until 2023 to reach £22,000 – the equivalent of where they stood in 2008.
Charles Shaker, a financial adviser and private wealth manager who was said by one of his employers to be "focused on ultra-high net worth individuals", was spending £330,000 on a 30l bottle of champagne at the Monaco grand prix.
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