CNBC is reporting that 51 German millionaires and billionaires have endorsed the idea of that rich people should have to give an extra 10 percent of their income to the government. I’m tempted to dismiss this story since (according to my rudimentary math skills) these clowns represent only 6/1000th of 1 percent of all wealthy Germans, but there’s a more important point to discuss. There’s no law stopping these neurotic people from giving extra money to government, so the real story is that they want the government to impose this bad policy on all successful people. I’ve debated this topic with a couple of ultra-rich American leftists (see here and here) and they never have a good answer when I ask them why they don’t give away their fortunes to the politicians and stop trying to impose their neurotic views on others.
A group of 51 German millionaires and billionaires founded a Club of the Wealthy and wrote to Chancellor Angela Merkel proposing to give up 10 percent of their income in the form of a “Rich Tax” for 10 years to consolidate the budget. With an estimated 800,000 millionaires (in dollars) — about 1 percent of the total population — Germany is eye-to-eye with the USA and has long overtaken the UK as Europe’s number one “millionaire-land”, both in terms of absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population. But traditionally, the Germans don’t dare to feel good about their riches.
[…] Germany also has guilt-ridden leftists who push for higher […]
[…] This is not just a problem in the United States. […]
[…] is not just a problem in the United […]
[…] P.P.S. Guilt-ridden rich people also exist in Germany. […]
[…] P.P.P.D. También hay izquierdistas ricos en impuestos en Alemania. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are also pro-tax rich leftists in Germany. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are also pro-tax rich leftists in Germany. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. tem também esquerdistas ricos pró-impostos Na Alemanha. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are also pro-tax rich leftists in Germany. […]
[…] P.P.P.S. There are also pro-tax rich leftists in Germany. […]
[…] Germany also has guilt-ridden leftists who push for higher […]
I don’t think the phenomenon should be dismissed as outright lunacy.
Perhaps those who owe their wealth to protection afforded by government regulations (i.e. crony capitalism) do feel some guilt after all. If I made my fortune on subsidized wind and solar farms because I was one of the few people who was given the permit and environmental clearance to do so, I’d feel guilty too, and grateful to the state, the taxpayers and especially the politicians that answered my lobbying solicitations. I used the political process to get a hold of taxpayer money and now I’m returning some. Hardly the altruistic philanthropy.
The government favoritism I mentioned need not have happened in my lifetime. It could have happened to my ancestors. A significant part of the European upper class was created that way. Hence the public’s resentment towards wealth in Europe is partially justified. It is the vicious cycle of voters assigning to the state the role of wealth allocator. The result is 55% fascism/communism (the percentage of GDP controlled by the state), perpetually low growth rates of 1.5%, and eventual worldwide economic marginalization.
If Americans want the advantage of looking into the future, then they should pay a lot more attention to Europe. If American public sentiment of the past few years is any indication, America is a mere couple of decades behind Europe, and accelerating.
Yep. Reminds of, I believe it was, some protest by union members in Illinois where they held signs that read “tax us more.” Such signs are pointless, of course – as you say they could always voluntarily donate their money to government if that was what they wanted. What they really meant, but were unwilling to say, was “tax them more.”