In the UK, only 28% of high-income households surveyed in 2025 said they agree their taxes should go towards solving global problems – a huge drop from 41% in 2024. Low-income UK households (earning £14,999 per year or less) polled in the opposite direction and were actually more likely to agree than last year, while those on medium incomes (between £15,000 and £44,999) have stayed the same.
Median post-tax houshold income is £36.7k. Suggesting the amount of people in a high-income houshold is about half, which is still a lot, but not as much as I thought.
That’s the median disposable income, which is significantly lower than the gross income used and misrepresented in this study.
The full time minimum wage is £23,809. That would mean a household with two people earning minimum wage would be classed as rich here.
They (ONS) define disposable income as “the amount of money households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes have been accounted for. It includes earnings from employment, private pensions and investments, as well as cash benefits provided by the state”, so not exactly post-tax income, but £36.7k corresponds to about £48k gross. I completely agree that a couple earning min. wage should not be classed as high income in the UK, but I usually overestimate how much income a typical Brit actually has.
Wow that seems low, US median household income is $83k, even with taxes and conversion that seems like a significant gap and I always thought US and UK had similar price levels. Are taxes just that much higher? Or are households smaller ? Or are incomes in the US just that much better?
Are you accounting for everything that’s included in UK taxation such as health care and state pension?
We’re talking about median, and the median person in the US gets employer provided healthcare and usually some form of employer pension/401k contribution plus social security, so I don’t think those would be much different cost wise for a median US vs UK resident. I’m sure Britain uses there taxes better than us and has better benefits, especially for the poor, but I don’t think that fully accounts for the gap.
So they don’t pay a penny towards those costs? For the median? As thats a lot of people.
As its entirely wrapped in the tax already accounted for in that net income with the UK tax payer.
I wasn’t expecting it to be the whole difference but I do know those that have to pay in the US pay a significant chunk of change.
Dollar is incredibly strong, because it is a global reserve currency. If you look at purchasing power, the difference in incomes between UK and USA would be much lower.
The wealth of the USA compared to other devoloped countries has shot away over the past 10-15 years, it’s not entirely clear why.