Jonathan Liew’s article (Won’t somebody please think of Britain’s poor £2m homeowners? Oh, wait – everyone already is, 2 November) entirely misses the point that underlies the spate of criticism against the “mansion tax”. While wealth disparity is no doubt an issue that needs to be addressed, this tax is a spiteful assault on hard-working taxpayers who already pay an enormous proportion of their salary to the Treasury to support a woefully mismanaged public sector and welfare state. Those who support the tax seem to be driven by a simple ideology that we need to “bash the rich” to create equality.
In the real world, this tax penalises hard-working families who have made difficult choices and made huge sacrifices to get to where they are. I come from a working-class background, I worked hard at school and achieved good grades, I worked part-time jobs, paid my own way through university and chose a profession that pays well, relocating to London and making sacrifices to earn good money – spending 18 hours a day in the office – and I chose to buy property and invest in it. I did not enjoy annual holidays or a defined-benefit pension that others enjoy.
These are all choices that I have made in the hope that the hard work and sacrifices will pay off, and that my family and I can enjoy the fruit of my labour. The principles of hard work, self-sacrifice and aspiration should be rewarded. We are biting the hand of middle England that feeds this bloated country.
Robert Appleford
Sevenoaks, Kent
Jonathan Liew’s article is a brilliantly witty and accurate depiction of the skewed nature of current public discourse on wealth and fairness in this country. Maybe it’s nothing new, but the reaction to the so-called mansion tax that Jonathan describes seems indicative of an increasing lack of any sense of privilege among the most privileged in our society.
My wife and I own our home (worth £250,000), though with a substantial mortgage. Our annual household income is around £70,000, which has to cover the aforementioned mortgage as well as the cost of raising three young children. I don’t always feel lucky (I mainly just feel tired), but I know that in the grand scheme of things, I am incredibly lucky and privileged. I try to remind myself of this fact whenever I’m tempted to complain or whine about something.
I (maybe naively) assumed that most people in similar or more privileged circumstances shared this sentiment, but am increasingly worried that it might be becoming a more and more rare perspective.
Tom Holden
Otley, West Yorkshire
The people complaining about being subject to the mansion tax have no recognition of how privileged they are to be able to afford to buy property outright, never mind a property of that value. I wonder how they would feel to be in my shoes. I have a supposedly affordable shared-ownership flat. The balancing charges for the last three years have amounted to almost £10,000 on top of the monthly fee. A £2,500 tax seems reasonable by comparison. I would love to own a house outright so I don’t have to be subject those charges, but that is not going to happen on my income. Some people really do have a tin ear.
Vicky Mills
Winchester
I loved Jonathan Liew’s piece about the rich whingeing about a small bit of tax. It reminded me of the billionaire bankers and hedge fund managers whingeing about a bit of corporation tax. Meanwhile, children starve. Men and women live in tents in the park. The problem is that the rich honestly think they deserve their wealth while the poor deserve their poverty. Otherwise how could they live with themselves? For more on this timeless topic, read George Bernard Shaw’s introduction to Pygmalion written in 1913.
Kit Jackson
London
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