I was happy to pay my taxes before I needed it, and I’ll be happy to pay my taxes after I need it. This is temporary, and it’s important that people get the help they need when they need it.
Problem is that the cost vastly surpasses the taxes you paid and will pay. And since the really rich always have the means to weasle out of the system, the middle class is bleeding until it can’t any more. Countries like Germany are squished by the cost of their welfare system.
I think for this to work you need an agreement between wealthy countries to all apply this kind of tax. This would be an attempt to stop all the accounts from just living offshore.
Not sure if the EU can apply this as a bloc style rule. I doubt the US powers that be would want to, and then other large powers I’d argue have even more questionable ruling classes anyway, but I’m open to being wrong on that last statement.
I could be wrong on my first statement too. I haven’t thought it out that much.
no, you’re right. The wealthy would do everything they can in order to avoid those taxes, up to and including moving to a new country with lax tax laws.
That is the fun stuff. They don’t. That is the lie.
If the USA and EU decides that the rich has the pay taxes then where do the rich go? They go to XYZ country, you might think but they don’t. Their business is in the US and the EU and their wealth is. They can slowly move their business and wealth… But they can’t move their market, which is where? USA and EU.
Also e.g.
The old money in Germany will never leave Germany. Due to privacy laws and the safety that they live in, they remember the RAF and they are thankful for the privacy and safety.
It is a lie that they tell you. They don’t leave.
Edit: in case, someone is wondering what I think is a motivator for them. Comfort.
They don’t because they don’t have to - they are not very highly taxed (in Germany business profit is taxed at 30%, private capital gains at 26% and salaries by up to 45% - and the rich don’t have salaries).
Once you start a policy that is exclusively paid for by the actual rich, they’ll either prevent it or find a way to net profit via their contacts in legislation, or they will just change their main residence to one of their vacation homes. Plenty of German rich folks have done so already.
Pretty big assumption here that they won’t pay more taxes than what they get from the government. I paid $20k in tax in the first year of my first non-retail job. If they paid taxes for 7-8 years before covid they probably already paid for themselves.
Your calculation would make sense - if all of your taxes went into the welfare system. In Germany the contribution rate is only 2.6% though (paid on top of your taxes) and with that your whole career might not be enough to pay for a single year of unemployment.
Also, the payment that arrives on your account hardly is the whole cost. There are up to whole ministries of government to pay for with thousands of tax-paid employees. Every pay-as-you-go system only works if the vast majority pays and only a few get paid.
That’s fair, though we also don’t know how much this individual is getting from the welfare system. At the end of the day I’m far less annoyed by people like this than by billionaires or even just CEO-types who make tens, hundreds, or thousands of times what a normal person makes while providing arguably similar amounts of economic input.
Additionally, while this person’s comment comes across as proud, they more than likely actually need the support the welfare system gives them. There’s probably a reason they only started relying on it since covid.
Problem is that the cost vastly surpasses the taxes you paid and will pay. And since the really rich always have the means to weasle out of the system, the middle class is bleeding until it can’t any more. Countries like Germany are squished by the cost of their welfare system.
the funds sholdn’t come from the working class, but instead the rich. increase taxes on the highest earners to fund welfare.
I think for this to work you need an agreement between wealthy countries to all apply this kind of tax. This would be an attempt to stop all the accounts from just living offshore.
Not sure if the EU can apply this as a bloc style rule. I doubt the US powers that be would want to, and then other large powers I’d argue have even more questionable ruling classes anyway, but I’m open to being wrong on that last statement.
I could be wrong on my first statement too. I haven’t thought it out that much.
no, you’re right. The wealthy would do everything they can in order to avoid those taxes, up to and including moving to a new country with lax tax laws.
That is the fun stuff. They don’t. That is the lie.
If the USA and EU decides that the rich has the pay taxes then where do the rich go? They go to XYZ country, you might think but they don’t. Their business is in the US and the EU and their wealth is. They can slowly move their business and wealth… But they can’t move their market, which is where? USA and EU.
Also e.g. The old money in Germany will never leave Germany. Due to privacy laws and the safety that they live in, they remember the RAF and they are thankful for the privacy and safety.
It is a lie that they tell you. They don’t leave.
Edit: in case, someone is wondering what I think is a motivator for them. Comfort.
They don’t because they don’t have to - they are not very highly taxed (in Germany business profit is taxed at 30%, private capital gains at 26% and salaries by up to 45% - and the rich don’t have salaries).
Once you start a policy that is exclusively paid for by the actual rich, they’ll either prevent it or find a way to net profit via their contacts in legislation, or they will just change their main residence to one of their vacation homes. Plenty of German rich folks have done so already.
Or tax businesses based on where they make their profit, if they refuse to show their numbers and comply close them.
Pretty big assumption here that they won’t pay more taxes than what they get from the government. I paid $20k in tax in the first year of my first non-retail job. If they paid taxes for 7-8 years before covid they probably already paid for themselves.
Your calculation would make sense - if all of your taxes went into the welfare system. In Germany the contribution rate is only 2.6% though (paid on top of your taxes) and with that your whole career might not be enough to pay for a single year of unemployment.
Also, the payment that arrives on your account hardly is the whole cost. There are up to whole ministries of government to pay for with thousands of tax-paid employees. Every pay-as-you-go system only works if the vast majority pays and only a few get paid.
That’s fair, though we also don’t know how much this individual is getting from the welfare system. At the end of the day I’m far less annoyed by people like this than by billionaires or even just CEO-types who make tens, hundreds, or thousands of times what a normal person makes while providing arguably similar amounts of economic input.
Additionally, while this person’s comment comes across as proud, they more than likely actually need the support the welfare system gives them. There’s probably a reason they only started relying on it since covid.