Tax us please, we're rich

[The Red Fox]

A sense of social responsibility amongst a group of wealthy Germans? Actually wanting to contribute something to the society which has made them rich? What lunacy.

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".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8321967.stm

[Feck]

What a nice bunch of people . ....last line what a sense of humour .













please ask them to send money !

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If they gave up 10% of their toys a lot of problems could be addressed.

[Drewish]

Bullshit. If they wanted to give, then they could give. Nobody's stopping them. They just want to force others to give to certain projects and have pull in deciding what those projects are. What hypocritical cowards.

EDIT -
I just [sarcasm]love[/sarcasm] how they make no distinction whatsoever between people who inherit wealth and those who earn it through their own hard work or expertise. Bollocks all of it; the self-hating twits.

[Feck]

If they gave up 10% of their toys a lot of problems could be addressed.

Floating gin Palace

[Clinton Huxley]

Tax 'em 'til the pips squeak! All their hard-earned is made off the backs of exploited workers. This applies only to the nouveau riche, the landed gentry should be left alone

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Tax 'em 'til the pips squeak! All their hard-earned is made off the backs of exploited workers. This applies only to the nouveau riche, the landed gentry should be left alone

The Rockefellers and that riff-raff, old chap?

[Clinton Huxley]

Tax 'em 'til the pips squeak! All their hard-earned is made off the backs of exploited workers. This applies only to the nouveau riche, the landed gentry should be left alone

The Rockefellers and that riff-raff, old chap?

Oh, please. Not our sort of people, old boy.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Tax 'em 'til the pips squeak! All their hard-earned is made off the backs of exploited workers. This applies only to the nouveau riche, the landed gentry should be left alone

The Rockefellers and that riff-raff, old chap?

Oh, please. Not our sort of people, old boy.

I hear some of their recent ancestors actually worked.

[Trolldor]

Bullshit. If they wanted to give, then they could give. Nobody's stopping them. They just want to force others to give to certain projects and have pull in deciding what those projects are. What hypocritical cowards.

EDIT -
I just [sarcasm]love[/sarcasm] how they make no distinction whatsoever between people who inherit wealth and those who earn it through their own hard work or expertise. Bollocks all of it; the self-hating twits.

Or, maybe they want to give money to publically run organisations but can't because the Government won't take their money?

[Drewish]

A government that won't take people's money even if they want to offer it? What are you smoking?

[Trolldor]

A government that won't take people's money even if they want to offer it? What are you smoking?

There are different ways to take money, and different systems set up. You can't just give the Government money to spend on a public project, unless you do it under the table.
And these people are trying to make all the wealthy accountable.

[Drewish]

Well that's just crazy. Every year on my tax form there are places to donate funds to government programs, so I can overpay my taxes if I so choose and decide where that money goes. If Germany can't even be bothered to give people the OPTION to give more, then they should. But (and this isn't directed at you) there is a big difference between giving people the option and raising their compulsory tax rate.

[Trolldor]

Well that's just crazy. Every year on my tax form there are places to donate funds to government programs, so I can overpay my taxes if I so choose and decide where that money goes. If Germany can't even be bothered to give people the OPTION to give more, then they should. But (and this isn't directed at you) there is a big difference between giving people the option and raising their compulsory tax rate.

It says 5%. If they can't afford 5% then they aren't the 'incredibly rich'.

[Drewish]

5% wealth tax, not 5% income tax.
Also it describes the people at the rally as rich, but says that they want to tax the wealthy. The use of two different adjectives means that these people might not even fall into the group they're calling to be taxed more heavily (and that info isn't listed in the article.)