View from the terrace of a Monaco apartment
In a recent survey of people’s attitudes to tax in the UK during the current recession, a surprising number of people are hoping that their government will spend less on welfare and other items of expenditure.
And while the majority of people want less tax and expenditure, in contrast they are hostile to the notion of tax havens and for people buying a Monaco property to reduce their own tax levels – a contradiction – and a sign perhaps that if people had money to buy a Monaco property and take residency they would too.
The change in attitudes towards tax and spend has shifted in recent years. Until quite recently elections were won and lost on issues like social housing and welfare, but now more people are wanting to keep more of the money they earn themselves, and have less taken for society.
What was noticeable about the survey – carried out by the National Centre for Social Research – was that the number of people questioned who blamed poverty on laziness rather than misfortune had increased, and given that unemployment in the UK and Europe is on the rise this might be viewed as surprising. It also comes at a time when many workers in the private sector are experiencing pay freezes, and with inflation running close to five percent this in effect is a pay cut for many.
A surprise too was that with unemployment as high as it is, and workers accepting pay freezes as the sceptre of redundancy hangs in the air, is that over half of those questioned in the survey believe that social security payments are set at too high a level, to the extent that it discourages those out of work from returning to full time employment.
But unemployment is not a choice for many, and the jobless figure now stands at a 17 year high in the UK at over 2,500,000 people. Still relatively modest compared to some European countries such as Spain where one in five is out of work, and youth unemployment in the UK is at a much higher level than that of the population as a whole.
The last time unemployment was as high as it is today was 1994, but looking further back it was higher in 1982 when unemployment went above three million, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. But in the sixties, seventies and eighties there was widespread political concern at how unemployment affected people as individuals, and society generally was far more agitated with unemployment than they are now. Back then it was the fault of government policy rather than individual circumstances that was understood to cause people to become jobless.
Now as attitudes change to a more individualistic outlook than collective, it’s because people aren’t prepared to work as to why unemployment is high in the minds of far more people than before. In 1982 it didn’t seem likely that with a backdrop of high unemployment that Margaret Thatcher would win a second term. She did thanks to a resurgence of support after victory in the Falklands War, and famously went on to win a third term in office, and when she was forced to resign in a leadership election it was her own Party that ended her reign, she left office undefeated with three General Election victories. A feat matched in more recent times by Tony Blair as Labour Prime Minister.
Another quite surprising result of the survey is that while three-quarters of those questioned believe that the financial gap between the rich and poor was too much, only a third believed that the government should intervene to redistribute the money. Considering that the redistribution of wealth was a major part of Labour’s thinking for several decades, including when they won elections, it’s a significant change in attitudes and one that should cause dismay for the country’s Left.
But when asked about Monaco for example most people associate it with trying to buy Monaco Grand Prix tickets for the annual F1 race each May – or disapprovingly as a tax haven, where people move to to protect their money and pay less taxes, a contradiction which suggests that many people disapprove of buying a Monaco property because they can’t afford one themselves.
The final response to questions suggests that people are indeed much more interested in their own welfare than society in general today.
The number of people who are willing to pay for green policies through their taxes has dropped from almost half ten years ago to just over a quarter now. Which suggests that half of those who agreed with paying for green policies a decade ago only did so because they felt the country could afford it, rather than a genuine concern for the environment – a lifestyle choice which is fine while the economy is doing well.
If anything is to be learned about attitudes in the UK to tax havens, it’s that the majority would move to one if they qualified.
Details of Monaco property for sale is available at www.monacoproperty.net
