Whether through incompetence or cowardice, Governments have contributed to the intergenerational unfairness affecting young people in Britain today.
Through failure to plan for the future, so called millennials - born in the 1980s - have been left in an invidious position. They earn less in real terms than their parents and grandparents did at the same stage of life. Yet they will have to pay more to fulfil obligations to older generations in terms of pensions and health care.
Those older generations, particularly the post-war ‘baby boomers’ stand accused of sabotaging their children’s futures. It may be governments that made the choices, but it was the baby boomers who voted for policies - on tax in particular - which ignored future liabilities.
The results are outlined in a report from the Resolution Foundation today, which shows that while Scotland’s household wealth has broken the £1 trillion barrier for the first time, the gulf between the richest and the poorest is enormous and markedly generational in nature.
It is mainly older generations who have benefited from wealth booms. Millennials, saddled with student debt, their pay suppressed by austerity, unable to buy a home have very little chance of joining the truly wealthy.
There has been much talk of a massive ‘wealth transfer’ as baby boomers retire and millennials subsequently inherit their wealth. This will only help a minority, but the Resolution Foundation says such asset transfer from relatives may be the only way many younger people can significantly improve their position and will have a much greater influence on their eventual wealth than education, effort or ability, the thinktank argues.
The fault is not all that of the baby boomers. The younger generation has a collective distrust of banks - born of financial crisis and scandal - and a tendency to leave marriage, children and even higher education later in life means many do not prioritise saving. Some millennials have significantly more disposable income than their parents. The trouble is they dispose of it.
How do we fix this? A previous Resolution Foundation report suggested an income-tax funded Citizen’s Inheritance of £10,000 for everyone who turns 25. But it is dubious how effective this would be: such a sum would not even clear the average Scottish graduate’s debt.
Governments contributed to the problem and the report calls on them now to do more. UK tax policy is a factor but one of the most significant wealth taxes, council tax, is fully devolved. More thoroughgoing reform of this tax is something the Scottish Government could and should do now, to help close the wealth gap.
As the Resolution Foundation makes clear, the odds are stacked against young people doing it on their own.
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