Rich and Poor is not the important divide

The much posited divide between rich and poor is much less important than the tripartite distinction between the very rich, the striving classes and the underclasses.

The very rich can afford taxes, or they can avoid most of them. The striving classes pay the taxes and get very little benefits. The underclass do nothing and keep getting the paychecks from the state.

By maintaining the pretence that there are the poor, needing state largesse, and the rest of the population, who are the "rich", you legitimise punitive tax rates on low- and middle-earners; you obscure the obvious fact that welfare dependency is rife; you do nothing to address the problem of tax avoidance. You punish the virtuous and reward vice.