Wanted: 1m signatures for EU tax on super-rich
Wanted: 1m signatures for EU tax on super-rich
A group of activists, economists, politicians, and even some billionaires, have registered an initiative calling on the EU to introduce an tax on the very rich to fund social and environmental transitions — is it feasible?
Here is the direct link to the initiative: https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative/initiatives/details/2023/000006_en
It seems like you can't sign it yet though. Does anyone know how long it usually takes until they are signable after registration?
This is the campaigns website.
Not sure, but the website has a form that you can use to subscribe and get notified when the petition is open: https://www.tax-the-rich.eu/home#support
In reality, however, inequalities have persistently grown, to the point where today the richest 1% of the world's population own almost half of the global wealth and that same 1% also emit more CO2 than the poorest half of the planet.
Dumb argument for a tax in the EU.
If you earn 45000€ or more per year (post-tax) you are in the 1%. (According to this)
That sure is a nice wage, but it's definitely not rich and employees with a degree are not the people we should be taxing even more.Also this:
The richest 1% of the planet own nearly half of all wealth. These same ultra-rich emit more CO2 than the poorest half of the planet.
So 45000€ is ultra-rich?
If you earn 45000€ or more per year (post-tax) you are in the 1%. (According to this)
€45,000/yr is in top 1% globally, but not the top 1% for the EU. Either way, the article is discussing a tax on wealth, not income. Even if €45,000/yr was in the top 1% income for the EU, someone making that salary is extremely unlikely to have accumulated enough assets to place them in the top 1% for wealth.
Yes 45K is the global Top 1%. But in the quoted parts they are talking about the global 1% and frame them as "ultra-rich". Not just the EUs Top 1%.
The richest 1% of the planet own nearly half of all wealth. These same ultra-rich emit more CO2 than the poorest half of the planet.
the 1% the petition is talking about is global, as well as the ownership claims, and the CO2 pollution claim.
it's worded a bit oddly, but they want to tax the "global 1%", not (just) the "EU 1%".
as you pointed out, there's a pretty big difference between the two.
since the initiatives goals are largely about climate change, which is obviously a global problem in need of global solutions, this framing makes sense. it could have been written a bit clearer...
No. If you own 40.000€ per year, you are in the top 1% globally. So, „taxing the rich 1%“ means not only taxing billionaires, but also average incomes in western countries.
Edit: Here you can check how rich you actually are: How rich am I?
I couldn't find anywhere what they mean by 1%. If it's as you say, and an annual income of €4500 is enough to be considered as such, then I think it would be quite excessive.
I am a student and I have nothing, and I am richer than 28% of my country because I don't have debt.
the richest 1% of the world’s population
If you earn 45000€ a year, which in many countries is just a bit above average, then you are richer than 99% of people in the entire world.
I'll be the one to pop the bubble. All this will do: people will move their assets outside the EU, making tax havens even richer.
No they dont. But they love it when this false Info gets continually parroted.
The EU is one of the biggest and most attractive markets worldwide. Companies will NOT leave it. Not every asset can just be up and moved. Panama Papers and countless other sources also show that anything that CAN be moved is already there.
A lot of companies avoid taxes in the EU already (including big tech giants).
This is an old argument that's long dead. The bottom line is it's a big deal to uproot your entire life / entire company just to exploit tax loopholes, and the use of tax havens is already so common place that it is unlikely to be exacerbated by additional scrutiny.
The book Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe talks a lot on this topic. The authors Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage defend progressive taxation, and state that the only historically-successful argument for raising taxes on the ultra wealthy has been "conscription of wealth" - The working class were conscripted to fight and die in war while the propertied class were not, so the property of the ultra wealthy was taxed very highly (conscripted) for war efforts.
Today, the world faces numerous crisis, and it is the lower class that will work the hardest and be forced to suffer the most while resolving them. It seems reasonable to me that the wealth of the upper class should likewise be put to use solving these crisis rather than exacerbating them. That's a conscription of wealth I can get behind.
Well then it seems like a good idea to heavily sanction tax havens as well. This argument is always one of the more defeatist takes you hear when talking about taxing the rich. Spoiler, it doesn’t happen. Most people still stay in the country and what wealth they would transfer to tax havens is already there.
This in turn will put more pressure on legislators to go after them. This game only works until it doesn't
Lőrinc Mészáros and other Fidesz assets are panicking
I'm all for it but what would it help if the super rich just move out of EU. I live in a heavily taxed country and most of our super rich just keep their activities in countries where there I no tax.
Merci !