Headline tax rates are only one part of the picture. It doesn't reflect the reality. The very rich manage to pay very little tax - although they do pay out big fees to their accountants!
https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/39/3/406/7245704
On top of that you have a benefits system that provides public subsidies to employers for low wages, and landlords for high rents.
Then you have a history of privatisations that takes assets from the public to enrich a layer of shareholders (OK - pension funds too, but....) where profits are privatised and losses are socialised.
And a history of public funding for infrastructure and skills (especially in the health and engineering sectors) that provide massive public subsidies for private profit - made worse by recent examples of public contracts (not just the NHS through Covid) going to overseas multinationals (paying for their dividends and executive salaries) or blue rosette mates on the make.
'Socialism for the rich' seems to be an apt description.
Originally Posted by jon1959
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