To your second point, CoL in London is basically LA level. London rents+council tax make rental prices SF level (around $1-2k/month in rent and around $1-2k/month in local property tax, which rentors apparently pay as well) while London median incomes are below poverty line LA or SF levels (around $40,000/year) [0], and inflation around 8-9%, the optics of a high net worth family exempt from Income Tax and Capital Gains tax unless they choose to incure it voluntariliy is very jarring.
[0] - https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/average-uk-salary
Oh it absolutely is! People in London pay a lot of money just to be there, and over the last couple of decades I've watched friends move further and further out, some still in flat-share arrangements into their 40s, as the idea of owning property anywhere in anything resembling an inner zone moved from "expensive" to "surely nobody can afford that?" to completely out of the question. And my friends tend to be at least vaguely professional workers, which of course means they are part of waves of gentrification pushing the people with less resources even further away.
How the whole thing sustains itself is something of a mystery to me. The city still needs cleaners.
(FWIW the whole of the UK is pretty much used to quite small living accomodation now, compared to the average American or Australian home)
The rest of your comment scans, but this bit seems weird to me.
What does the rate of inflation have to do, with taxation?
Some points:
- we are no where near record inflation, at least not in the US and Canada, and I presume the UK too. I recall 18% being thrown around in the 80s.
- changing tax policy due to inflation seems a weird idea to me. Inflation causes cost of living changes, but also, as a result, wage increases are fought for and won.
If anything, inflation needs to see taxation brackets moving upward to be fair! Not more taxation...
- look at all consumption tax. Inflation goes up, pricing goes up, so sales tax, gas tax, etc collected increases as a result.
I guess I don't get the inflation angle.