Rich Germans demand higher taxes

[Onkel Neal]

Agroup 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.

Bravo, good on them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8321967.stm

Signatory Peter Vollmer told AFP news agency he was supporting the proposal because he had inherited "a lot of money I do not need".

Oh really?

.

The group held a demonstration in Berlin on Wednesday to draw attention to their plans, throwing fake banknotes into the air. Mr Vollmer said it was "really strange that so few people came".

Those who had "made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment" should contribute by paying more to alleviate the crisis.

On a voluntary basis, of course. The second a few people try to compel the rest to higher rates, we have a problem.

Yea but you don't have a flat tax in the US either? Estonia has a flat tax.

Countries that have flat tax. Look at those commies in the east, how dare they!

[AVGWarhawk]

Man, can't wait for the Skybird diatribe on this one . I guess we will have to wait until he returns from the money throwing party/demonstration.

[SteamWake]

This is already sort of in place in the US wherein the top earners pay the vast majority of taxes.

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6

[mookiemookie]

If the rich Germans have too much money, they can always send some to me and I'll use it to buy a sweet BMW or Benz. I get a nice car, the German economy is stimulated, everyone wins! What do you say, bekannter? Toss some euros my way, bitte!

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Man, can't wait for the Skybird diatribe on this one . I guess we will have to wait until he returns from the money throwing party/demonstration.

You could be helped, but you might be surprised. In some ways I am more "pro-American" than you can imagine (last week I even was on the gunnery range again with my father , a brandnew S&W 357 Magnum he wanted to show - he is shooting for sports).

As much as I am for mandatory basic taxes, I'm nevertheless with Neal in that beyond a certain healthy tax level, contributing even more should be voluntary only. Possible that we nevertheless disagree on the ammount that qualifies as "healthy, needed" tax levels.

Because I also know that plenty of money, I think a three digit billion, gets headlessly wasted for reasons of poltiical laziness, politcal opportunism, and ideologic trench warfare.

Recently, the former finance senator of Berlin who then went to the Bundesbank, Thilo Sarrazin (SPD!), voiced some uncomfortable truths about the social lower class in Berlin. T the unhealthy migration patterns that give evidence that the migration to Germany, different to populistic claims, does not help to boost the economy or to support social security systems, gotcharacterisied by him that way that due to especially muslim and Turkish migrants actively resisting integration they are putting additonal payload onto the social system. Especially in Berlin, a city that de facto is bancrupt, this is a problem, but it gets vehemently denied by the political left and self-declared "Gutmenschen" loiving themselves to embrace all the world as long as it only is not German and rich, but foreign and poor. Of course, Sarrazin got and still gets crucified, although he probably also got lured into a trap by his boss with whom he has a personal vendetta, fighting for power and influence at the Bundesbank. Attacks against him had become so intense and misled in some cases that some of his critics had to excuse meanwhile for their own criticism again. Remarkable that there has been plenty of criticism of the laconic wording he had chosen (and for which he is famous and much feared for), but very signficantly less criticism there is on his claims and arguments.

Other examples are the treemdnous waste of tax moneys for appeasing the pharmaceutical lobby, and several other economic branches (but the pharmacuetical idnustry is one of the most unscrupleous and greedy ones).

If I were a rich man, I would think twice to invest my money into such a system that imo is in a desastrous condition and promises to collapse in the forseeable future - my age group will live to see that happening.

A new coalition government is to be formed, they are in negotiations and already try tricks by sleight of hands and thimblerigs again, to decieve the people over the new debts they want to make and growing hidden taxes through the backdoor. Becasue they pout their powerinterest for the next four years over the interest of the nation: they avoid to cinfriont the mighty industrial lobbies sacking dozens of billions per year, and they shy away from stopping subsidies that would cost them votes.

It's all prettymuch rotten. that it is like that throughout the West, is not really comforting - but worrying.

So if you have more money than you can spend, don't invest it into voluntary "taxes" wasted by the state, but invest them into hand-selected projects and organisation, foundations and institutes of your personal choice, maybe even local initiatives and individual persons in need for help without it being their fault.

Yes, I agree that the obvious need to control an else destructively selfish capitalistic economy model must be answered by strengthening this surveillance and control of it, and I agree that global economy needs to be directed at a completely new prientation since it has become suicidal for us to follow it's current course anymore, and I agree to the idea of the european - more exactly: German - conception of a "social market economy". But that I agree to these views does not mean I am blind to not see that the latter has become distorted and hopelessly exaggerated like the egoism in pure capitalism ha sbecome hopelessly exaggerated as well. Both these distortions have started to become so severe that they now threaten the very survival of our nations, and lead us towards overload, and collapse in all regards.

The problem is I do not really see any option anymore to design such a vital correction realistically. Since years, every feedback statistics and the news are giving on the developement in our countries, paints a more and more grim perspective - and wastes our time by trying to to hide right that with always the same phrases and hollow rituals. It's like living inside a pressure cooker and people around keep on saying that the weather is about to become even better soon.

If I would plan again to have a family, and kids, I only would do so if I can see the realistic opportunity (money, skills, formalities) to leave all the EU together. My only problems are that I would not have any clue where to go (since it seems to go down everyhwere, just in different styles and speeds), and that I like Germany by the looks and diverse landscape of it.

[AVGWarhawk]

Do not let anyone say Skybird does not deliver!