I help rich people tackle inequality. Here’s how the cost-of-living crisis could be fixed

theguardian.com:

I spent nearly a decade advising the UK’s wealthiest families on how to preserve their wealth. As we witness extraordinary hikes in the cost of living, we need to talk about the elephant in the room: wealth inequality.

The UK is the fifth largest economy in the world. Yet, Britain is the second most unsustainable of 36 major economies, according to recent research by L’Atelier BNP Paribas, an independent research subsidiary of the French bank. Depressed salaries coupled with high costs of housing and childcare have been a persistent problem in the country over the last few decades, and now, according to its report, extreme wealth inequality is threatening to provoke civil unrest.

Families already under considerable financial strain are facing the prospect of a “cost-of-living tsunami” as prices of everyday groceries rise by 50%. Concurrently, billionaire wealth has soared over the past year. The UK now has a record total of 177 billionaires, according tothe Sunday Times rich list 2022.

I have a particular sensitivity about platforming extreme wealth without critique, owing to my past life as a private wealth solicitor. An intellectually stimulating practice area, I had intended to continue on my career trajectory indefinitely, until one day a friend told me that there were more food banks than McDonald’s branches in the UK. I was horrified to discover the gap between rich and poor was so extreme. To my mind, this represents something incredibly disturbing about the economic health of this country.

I had already started to reflect on the critical role of tax for investment in public services and felt an increasing level of discomfort regarding wealth disparities, as well as the existence of harmful narratives around tax.