Posted on 10/23/2009 11:23:26 AM PDT by Soothesayer
A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.
The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany's economic recovery.
Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.
The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality.
Simply donating money to deal with the problems is not enough, they want a change in the whole approach.
"The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
If this isn't insanity then insanity doesn't exist.
Though after decades of this insanity, there are probably a total of 227 rich Germans left.
‘”The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice,””
Proof you don’t have to be smart to be rich.
I think I see the problem.
If they want to pay more taxes, why don't they just donate whatever amount they don't think they deserve to the government?
Is there some law which prevents people from voluntarily giving money to the government?
They are not worried. They will still be wealthy and the system that made them rich will continue.
Income taxes are not a tax on wealth, but a tax on becoming rich. When the wealthy call for more taxes they are trying to keep everybody else from joining their club. Their wealth gives them more power and access to government than the less wealthy.
While claiming that increased taxes are for altruistic purposes, they are actually quite selfish. Individual charity is real charity, government charity only buys votes.
Why don’t those nitwits who signed the petition just donate their “excess money”? Why should other people who don’t believe they have “excess money” be forced to pay the “wealth” tax?
A half million euros isn't exactly a fortune. How many business would have to be disolved and how many shares of stock would have to be sold when everyone is selling (and depressing the values of those shares)? Hmm. Maybe the people proposing it are like Warren Buffet - good at buying things cheap from desperate sellers. If you are sitting on a lot of cash, have to give 5% of it to the government for a wealth tax, but then can use the rest to buy out businesses and shares of stock at firesale prices you could make back that 5% tax in months.
Sound's like they are watching too much "sprokets"
I don’t know... I wouldn’t think this is total insanity. I mean they see the need for their nation to survive over their own desire to be richer than they need.
Just because it’s not something you would do doesn’t make it insane.
That being said, I do not approve of the government snatching money from people.
I'm sure they are petitioning for increases on taxes of future revenues, and not current holdings. Just consider them to be the "I Got Mine Club".
That's kind of like saying you want to have sex but you don't want it to be consensual you want it to be rape.
Instead of asking for higher taxes to fund social programs why don't these rich people start businesses and hire the unemployed?
I am German and I was a little surprised because this story has not been on the news at all here in Germany. Therefore, I did a little web search and the only thing I found on this was a short interview from MAY 29, 2009 in a local newspaper (Kölner Stadtanzeiger http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1243453916382.shtml) with one of the guys who say that rich people should pay more taxes. So this story is a) old news and b) should not be taken too seriously. There is, after all, no financial risk for these people in petitioning for something which they know for sure will never happen.
Tax ME More?
The Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/METRO/253909409/1004) on the fate of Virginia’s “Tax me more” fund:
“RICHMOND — State lawmakers can rule out Virginian’s offering up more of their hard-earned money to fix the $1.4 billion budget shortfall Gov. Tim Kaine announced this week.
At least that is what a peek at the so-called “Tax Me More Fund” suggests.
Since its inception in 2002, the fund has collected a total of $10,217.04.”
“I mean they see the need for their nation to survive over their own desire to be richer than they need.”
At best they are just too lazy to promote a charitable cause.
The only situation in which I could see advocating for higher taxes would be if the United States:
1.) Passed a Constitutional amendment to require balanced budgets, abolished the income tax, and replaced with a national fair tax that was capped at 23%
2.) To fix the country’s balance sheet, we applied a special 60% tax for 2 or 3 years to pay off the nation’s debt for those of us making more than $200,000 per year.
In that limited situation, I would gladly sacrifice a couple years of earnings from my companies to restore the nation’s balance sheet and avoid taxing generations of those who will come after us just to pay the interest.
I’d think of it as a price tag for ensuring financial freedom for every generation that comes after us. Knowing that Congress couldn’t just take the money and spend it on worthless, worthless projects and that we had effectively ended the insanity would be worth the forgone wealth.
Of course, in that situation, one could make a pretty convincing argument that the special tax would be unnecessary because even a small bit of inflation would cause the real value of the debt to decrease each year. With Congress unable to add to the debt, the real inflation-adjusted value could never increase. That’s how Canada’s repaid their national debt ... over the past 10 years, they have held the line on spending and allowed the actual, inflation-adjusted value fall by 50% when compared to a percentage of GDP. The debt itself still has the same nominal value but the nation’s balance sheet is much stronger.
It certainly isn't. My guess is a bad translation of the probably used term "Vermögen", which in this context would better be translated as "assets".
That’s put so well.
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