Soak The Rich?

[Hypognosis]

On BBC Breakfast this morning, they showed a story on the right edge of the page of some broadsheet, with the headline (paraphrasing) "We should Soak the Rich to solve the deficit." It's something Clegg said at conference.

I've lived in the UK since birth and have not encountered this usage of 'soak' before. Can anyone who bought a copy today and has managed to elide the meaning please let us know what it says?

[Quizmonster]

Same to you, C! I have noticed your name but (a) only very occasionally of late and (b) not in a thread I had any wish to contribute to for a long time. Glad to see you're still around, however.

[janbee]

Soak the rich... ok, but only if it's in boiling oil !

[Hypognosis]

Nice one, Clanad. Thanks.

Steady on, janbee! ;-)

We still need the rich. Getting a business off the ground means someone putting a large sum of money at risk, with no guarantee of any return whatsoever. It would be nice to have that much money to just 'gamble' but it's just never going to happen for a large chunk of the population. We spend as we go, to try and have a good time and rely on those with deeper pockets to provide us with jobs.

There are those who would sooner buy a private jet than take a few hundred off state benefits and we really need to structure corporate taxes so as to encourage more hiring of the unemployed, not reward tax write-offs like 'business travel expenses'.