Rich Germans are willing to pay more taxes, why aren't rich Americans?

A group 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. Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say. The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel. The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality. Simply donating money to deal with the problems is not enough, they want a change in the whole approach. "The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition. 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. The man behind the petition, Dieter Lehmkuhl, told Berlin's Tagesspiegel that there were 2.2 million people in Germany with a fortune of more than 500,000 euros. If they all paid the tax for two years, Germany could raise 100bn euros to fund ecological programmes, education and social projects, said the retired doctor and heir to a brewery. Signatory Peter Vollmer told AFP news agency he was supporting the proposal because he had inherited "a lot of money I do not need". He said the tax would be "a viable and socially acceptable way out of the flagrant budget crisis". 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".

news.bbc.co.uk...

If wealthy Germans are so willing to pay higher taxes in order to help their government and their people, why do wealthy Americans seem to do everything in their power to only protect and increase their wealth at the expense of others?

reply to post by SG-17


You may be mistaking who's at the top. The "rich" in this country pay really exorbitant taxes. What really needs to be done is to go after the offshore accounts of multinational corporations and seize taxes as these companies typically only pay little more than 1%.

Higher taxes does not necessarily mean a greater return. When an economy has low taxes it is buoyed by spending as the population has more spare cash. In turn production goes up and so does employment meaning there is more tax payers and less claiming social security. Hong Kong has run this model for the last 25 years and they are one of the most stable economies in the world.

Originally posted by SG-17

A group 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. Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say. The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel. The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality. Simply donating money to deal with the problems is not enough, they want a change in the whole approach. "The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition. 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. The man behind the petition, Dieter Lehmkuhl, told Berlin's Tagesspiegel that there were 2.2 million people in Germany with a fortune of more than 500,000 euros. If they all paid the tax for two years, Germany could raise 100bn euros to fund ecological programmes, education and social projects, said the retired doctor and heir to a brewery. Signatory Peter Vollmer told AFP news agency he was supporting the proposal because he had inherited "a lot of money I do not need". He said the tax would be "a viable and socially acceptable way out of the flagrant budget crisis". 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".

news.bbc.co.uk...

If wealthy Germans . If they had any wealthare so willing to pay higher taxes in order to help their government and their people, why do wealthy Americans to do everything in their power to only protect and increase their wealth at the expense of others?

By wealth are you referring to CAPITAL GAINS or the INCOME TAX? They are very different and changing tax policy in either has a massive effect on the economy.

I would support eliminating the income tax and enforcing the Corporate and Capital Gains tax (which would actually tax the rich and allow the little people to save up capital themselves and not ask the Mobster government to take care of them), but this class warfare is so insane.

Personally i think these people that want tax increases are all NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)
If they had any wealth (that is actually capital not high income every paycheck) they would not feel remotely the same about it.


Case in point here is Warren Buffet the billionaire who touts that he pays less in taxes than his secretary and that taxes on the rich should be higher........

NOTHING IS STOPPING YOU FROM TAKING IT ON YOURSELF TO PAY HIGHER TAXES. YOU WANT HIGHER TAXES THEN JUST SEND IN MORE OF YOUR OWN MONEY!

to that Jeopardy type of Question:



I answer: the Amrican 'Rich' are stupid/unsophisticated/untutored in ecomomic Finesse

Americans love money more than anything else.

That's it, it is really that simple.

reply to post by SG-17


do the Germans all play golf?

my impression is that in North America, golf has made a culture of immaturity.

being silly and like little kids, what can we get away with culture, could be caused by the golf mentality.
boys will be boys, ah well.

look at Congress, few are what they pretend to be, like actors in an italian opera.
they probaly all golf.

reply to post by SG-17


It's because they a lot of them remember socialism, and how it was to share burdens. While rich Americans were bred to be self absorbed self gratifying wretches who were taught the only way to get to the top was to step on the backs of the lower & middle classes. It isn't called a pyramid scheme for nothing this is what it means the poor and middle class supporting the weight of a higher class who don't care if they step on our toes to get to the top much like this:

reply to post by michael1983l


Agreed.

Also OP, your suggestion implies a responsible government. If this were true, we wouldn't be here in the first place. No sense in giving them more when it'll just end up "lost." Not to mention they'll leverage every dollar they take in to gain 10 more in debt to another nation. It may make the situation exponentially worse.

Originally posted by SG-17
If wealthy Germans are so willing to pay higher taxes in order to help their government and their people, why do wealthy Americans seem to do everything in their power to only protect and increase their wealth at the expense of others?

Raising taxes isn't the answer, cutting spending is.

How do you know rich U.S citizens don't want to pay more taxes?

Have you asked them?

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Both are required. This has been proven over and over again. Reagan's trickle-down economics have been proven a failure.

reply to post by ldyserenity


You're misidentifying the cause of our problems and laying blame right where they want you to. This is the fault of the government. Not to mention, the local business owner is not truly "rich." The top whatever percent that hold nearly all the wealth never pay taxes.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


As the economy grows, the amount of assets that can back loans also grows.

As the amount of credit grows, the amount of spending is free to grow.

As the amount of spending grows, the amount of investment grows.

As investment grows, the economy grows.

----------

As spending shrinks, investment shrinks.

As investment shrinks, the economy shrinks.

As the economy shrinks, the amount of assets that can back loans also shrinks.

As the amount of credit shrinks, the amount of spending is unable to grow.



The state is a massive corporation that represents the Citizens, its shareholders. Why do you want the citizens to get the shaft on their investments?

Originally posted by SpringHeeledJack
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

You're misidentifying the cause of our problems and laying blame right where they want you to. This is the fault of the government. Not to mention, the local business owner is not truly "rich." The top whatever percent that hold nearly all the wealth never pay taxes.

And theya re exactly whom I am reffering to. and beleive me small business owners that grow into corporations do the very same thing Wal mart is evidence of this. However, it is true it's now harder to get there for the small business nowadays.

Originally posted by SmedleyBurlap
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

 

As the economy grows, the amount of assets that can back loans also grows.

As the amount of credit grows, the amount of spending is free to grow.

As the amount of spending grows, the amount of investment grows.

As investment grows, the economy grows.
----------

As spending shrinks, investment shrinks.

As investment shrinks, the economy shrinks.

As the economy shrinks, the amount of assets that can back loans also shrinks.

As the amount of credit shrinks, the amount of spending is unable to grow.



The state is a massive corporation that represents the Citizens, its shareholders. Why do you want the citizens to get the shaft on their investments?

I can do it too:

If the government spends less, they can tax less.

If people are taxed less, they spend more.

If people spend more, the economy grows.

And so on.



Personally, I think I could spend my own money better than the government does.

I also reject the idea that government spending is the best way to grow the economy.

simple fact no one knows what tomorrow brings and their repeated attempt to define "rich"
incessently.

here in america we beleive in property rights as we have earned our cash our property its our say in how our property is spent..

also another known fact is the government already misuses what we are already forced to pay for and then incessently tries to nickle and dime us for more and they in turn blow that cash.

the government wealth comes from the people they need us we dont need them but to just leave us the hell alone.

and point of fact america was founded because people were tired up that line of thinking.

i swear germans pay more so we should what nerve.

meh

Originally posted by SmedleyBurlap
Americans love money more than anything else.

That's it, it is really that simple.

You mean Jews love money than anything else.

reply to post by rdavis


You say tomato, I say anti-semite

reply to post by SG-17


There is a movement among some US billionaires supported by Warren Buffet to raises taxes.

Warren Buffett Tells ABC Rich People Should Pay Higher Taxes

Billionaire Warren Buffett said that rich people should pay more in taxes and that Bush-era tax cuts for top earners should be allowed to expire at the end of December.

www.bloomberg.com...

Right now they pay less than most Americans:
The 400 Richest Americans Pay An 18% Tax Rate

The 400 richest Americans used to pay 30% of their income on the average to Uncle Sam. Today, they pay 18% on the average, according to Steve Rattner, a Wall Street financier, who just presented these figures on Mornings With Joe,MSNBC.

blogs.forbes.com...

Now take into account that 90% of the nation's wealth is controlled by less than 10% of the population,. sociology.ucsc.edu...

If 90% of your nations wealth is controlled by people who only pay 18% in taxes, we have a serious problem.

Warren Buffet recognizes this and wants to fix it.