Okay. Welcome back to Gary's Economics.

Today we are going to talk about meritocracy.

Okay.

So today

we're gonna respond

to one of the biggest criticisms

we get for our campaign to tax wealth more,

which is that's not fair.

That's not meritocratic.

You want to go after people who've worked really hard

their whole lives to make money,

and you want to tax them more.

That's not capitalism, that's not meritocracy.

So we're going to address this head on.

First things first,

I've said it a million times on the channel.

I'll say it again.

We are not campaigning to tax working people.

We are campaigning to tax

individuals and families who have hoarded

enormous amounts of wealth, £10 million or more.

Secondly, let's talk about meritocracy in society

that we live in today.

So I am talking to you here from London.

I grew up in East London in quite a poor community.

I went to a grammar school,

so I know some richer people.

And then I went to a very fancy university.

So I know some much richer people.

And then I work in the City,

so I know so much richer people still,

most of my friends from poorer

backgrounds are working really, really hard.

I know a few of them who are earning

much, much higher than average salary.

They went to some of the top

universities in the country.

They're making 60, 70, 80 grand a year.

They're sleeping on their mum's sofas,

and they're saving up every single penny

they can to buy a house.

And they can't buy a house because house prices

go up faster than their savings.

At the same time,

I know people from richer families who don't work,

who own houses

because their parents gave them £700 grand tax free.

Is that meritocracy?

This is a question I want to ask you.

Let's look at what's happening

in our society at the moment.

House prices are rising very, very, very, very quickly.

if you've been watching this channel for a long time,

you’ll know I'm a firm believer

that wealth inequality drives asset prices up.

If you don't understand why that is, I would recommend

that you watch our recent video, part

two of our online course,

What is wealth inequality

and how does it affect the economy?

If you give all the money to rich people,

they will try and buy all the assets

and that will drive asset prices up.

What that means is ordinary

people can no longer afford assets.

We increasingly live in a society

where whether you are able

to have things like a comfortable family

or have things like home ownership

are basically nothing to do with how smart you are,

how hard you work, what job you have,

what university you went to

and are increasingly just a faction

of how rich your parents are.

Listen, we do not live in a meritocracy.

Nothing could be more obvious.

I think one problem we have is that...

So I'm 37, and my parents

generation lived in a much less unequal

and much more meritocratic society.

They lived in a world

where if you worked hard, you could save up some money,

you could buy property,

and you could reach some level of wealth.

That is not really true anymore.

Younger people are increasingly seeing that it's

basically impossible to get rich

unless you are from money.

Listen,

wealth exists in our society,

and there are basically two ways

in which wealth can be distributed.

One is through work.

People who do more valuable work, more high paid work

get the assets, they get the wealth,

and they become rich.

The other is basically through aristocracy

and inheritance, where people who are born

which die rich, and people who are born poor, die poor.

We can't really exist in a system where ordinary,

hardworking people from poor families like myself

pay 50 or 60% tax if they make money.

People from extremely wealthy families,

like the Duke of Westminster,

can inherit billions of pounds and pay nothing.

This is not a meritocracy.

I'm pushing for a meritocratic society.

What I want is an economy

where very rich people pay

their fair share of tax

instead of all of the tax burden

landing on ordinary working

people like you or your kids.

I want a meritocracy.

I want people who work hard to make money.

Unequal societies are not meritocracy.

They are societies in which people from rich families

get all the assets.

If you want meritocracy,

you should tax the rich rather than working people.

So that's my answer. How do you get meritocracy?

You tax the rich.

That way

we can get the assets to ordinary working people

rather than just the people with rich dads.

That is a meritocratic society.

Support us, support the channel. Thank you very much.