Edit/commentary: I understand that this proposal is less than ideal, because "tax the rich" is not going to solve the problem. We need a reform of our basic principles of economy. But it's a sign that something must be done against the inequality.
I'm not against this initiative per se. But this is just another tax on middle class people and doesn't tackle the real wealth being hidden in multinationals that don't pay any tax and hold governments hostage by threat of moving their employment away. They are the problem. They pollute like no other because no one is ever held accountable.
Again, I'm not against this initiative in it's entirety. I'm just remarking it doesn't tackle the real problem.
And to answer your question, having savings around a million euros isn't weird for western Europeans. The standard of living here is fairly high. The average starter home is around 400k euros where I live. Meaning regular 4 people family homes are almost double that.
Again. I'm not against this proposal. But it's just populist pandering. Most people just read the title and go "yeah eat the rich".
I know Paul Magnette. I'd never vote for him cause he's not a sincere politician. He's a populist. It's the modern political disease, they're all populists. No one is honest anymore. They're all there in your face just to get votes.
This proposal is nothing more than a simple ad and power grab. I wish it were different. I really do.
The real problem is that no one who works for someone else earns their fair share. Corrupt governments won't solve this.
It's probably not so much you can't retire, but you can't retire with an income that you'll be comfortable on.
A brief look suggests the average pre-tax wage in Belgium is around €3800, or about €45000 per year. Assuming you already own your home, or continue to pay mortgage payments at the same rate as before retirement, your pension needs to roughly match your income to not have a drop in living standards. A €1250000 pension pot will buy an annuity that pays a bit more than that, probably around €55000 a year, but assuming you amassed that in your pension pot you would probably have been on a higher than average salary, so it's going to be close, and an annuity at that level wont increase with inflation, so your buying power drops over time, just when you're more likely to need a care home or nursing support.
This just qualifies as ultra-rich - which is not wrong, imho. I don't know the exact conditions for Belgium but in Germany the taxes would start to show effect at 4,6 million with 2%. If you think about it assets in this magnitude could easily lead to 1000€ daily passive income. Those 2% wont hurt.
But it doesn’t include the home or business assets. So you could have one guy with €1.25 million in stocks who lives off a modest income from dividends and sleeps in an RV and he would be classified as ultra rich.
Another guy could live in a €2 million mansion and be the owner of a €100 million business (but have no other investments) and be classified as NOT ultra rich. See the problem?