Foreign News: The Rich Fiddlers

If declared annual income was a guide, Britain was down to 36 millionaires. Remnants of a body 6,560 strong in 1939, this dwindling band had lost 24 members in a year, the Inland Revenue Board reported last week. The estimate is based on the number who had incomes of more than £6,000 ($16,800) a year after taxes. In Britain that means a man must have £1,000,000 invested at roughly 5½—or earn more than £56,000 ($156,800) in salary.

The figure of 36 millionaires is a somewhat misleading statistic. Thousands of Britons still live in a...

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