http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/12000288/We-earn-190k-a-year.-Do-we-need-to-sell-our-flat-to-afford-private-school-fees.html
A lot of people have been sharing the above article from The Guardian recently, using it as excuse to unleash a whole heap of vitriolic rhetoric. Although I obviously see why people feel the way they do (and agree it was poorly worded) I also believe it's yet another example of a deliberate attempt to turn society against itself. Aspiring to do well and create a comfortable living for your family is not a crime, and high earning middle class families are not the enemy here, just as immigrants/benefit cheats/scroungers aren't either. It's misdirection, while the real people who've stolen the wealth of our nation are sitting back, laughing. Don't hate people who have more money/resources than you: hate the people who've taken ALL the money and resources.
I think what this article is trying to say, albeit by absurdly bad example, is the middle and even upper-middle classes of the UK are also being squeezed by this government. That much is probably true. The Tories are raiding everyone OTHER than the super-rich. While that is of course going to be of little comfort and even incite derision from the majority who are worse off, it still is significant (IMO), because what the Tories are trying to do is eradicate the middle class. Soon it will be just rich and poor (albeit different degrees). Those defined as rich will be a very select few, eg: the landed gentry, elites and the politically/financially connected. Every one else will be mice on a wheel. It will remove the possibility of people who come from less to ever take back the reins of government.
One thing the Tories have done which people seem to be happy about, is they've changed the rules on BTL Landlords and their tax liabilities from 2017: those with BTL mortgages (eg: middle class earners who've trusted and invested in the UK's only viable investment for decades, property) will no longer be able to claim full tax relief on those mortgages. Overnight, this will destroy the income and business planning of thousands and thousands of people, who will have to pay tax to this government for earnings they won't make, and worse still could cause a housing price slump - a period when the super-rich absolutely mop up.
Many shout about how "fair" this is, and how it's "about time" etc. But here's the tickler. The ONLY people unaffected by the new legislation are the super-rich, who either own their properties outright, or can (and will) afford to do so. It only affects those who required the financial system to make the income. Consequently, in the ensuing mad rush of middle-class landlords selling their properties to dig themselves out of financial disaster, guess who will swoop in and buy up their properties too? It won't be first-time buyers or low income households.
IT'S A POWER GRAB.
