A group of activists, economists, politicians, and even some billionaires, have registered an initiative calling on the EU to introduce an tax on the very rich to fund social and environmental transitions — is it feasible?
In reality, however, inequalities have persistently grown, to the point where today the richest 1% of the world’s population own almost half of the global wealth and that same 1% also emit more CO2 than the poorest half of the planet.
Dumb argument for a tax in the EU.
If you earn 45000€ or more per year (post-tax) you are in the 1%. (According to this)
That sure is a nice wage, but it’s definitely not rich and employees with a degree are not the people we should be taxing even more.
Also this:
The richest 1% of the planet own nearly half of all wealth. These same ultra-rich emit more CO2 than the poorest half of the planet.
If you earn 45000€ or more per year (post-tax) you are in the 1%. (According to this)
€45,000/yr is in top 1% globally, but not the top 1% for the EU. Either way, the article is discussing a tax on wealth, not income. Even if €45,000/yr was in the top 1% income for the EU, someone making that salary is extremely unlikely to have accumulated enough assets to place them in the top 1% for wealth.
the 1% the petition is talking about is global, as well as the ownership claims, and the CO2 pollution claim.
it’s worded a bit oddly, but they want to tax the “global 1%”, not (just) the “EU 1%”.
as you pointed out, there’s a pretty big difference between the two.
since the initiatives goals are largely about climate change, which is obviously a global problem in need of global solutions, this framing makes sense. it could have been written a bit clearer…
No. If you own 40.000€ per year, you are in the top 1% globally. So, „taxing the rich 1%“ means not only taxing billionaires, but also average incomes in western countries.
Edit: Here you can check how rich you actually are: How rich am I?
I couldn’t find anywhere what they mean by 1%. If it’s as you say, and an annual income of €4500 is enough to be considered as such, then I think it would be quite excessive.
Dumb argument for a tax in the EU.
If you earn 45000€ or more per year (post-tax) you are in the 1%. (According to this)
That sure is a nice wage, but it’s definitely not rich and employees with a degree are not the people we should be taxing even more.
Also this:
So 45000€ is ultra-rich?
€45,000/yr is in top 1% globally, but not the top 1% for the EU. Either way, the article is discussing a tax on wealth, not income. Even if €45,000/yr was in the top 1% income for the EU, someone making that salary is extremely unlikely to have accumulated enough assets to place them in the top 1% for wealth.
Yes 45K is the global Top 1%. But in the quoted parts they are talking about the global 1% and frame them as “ultra-rich”. Not just the EUs Top 1%.
the 1% the petition is talking about is global, as well as the ownership claims, and the CO2 pollution claim.
it’s worded a bit oddly, but they want to tax the “global 1%”, not (just) the “EU 1%”.
as you pointed out, there’s a pretty big difference between the two.
since the initiatives goals are largely about climate change, which is obviously a global problem in need of global solutions, this framing makes sense. it could have been written a bit clearer…
No. If you own 40.000€ per year, you are in the top 1% globally. So, „taxing the rich 1%“ means not only taxing billionaires, but also average incomes in western countries.
Edit: Here you can check how rich you actually are: How rich am I?
Nice Website but its only checks your income. If you have to work for your money your not rich in a western country
What? Of course you are. You are not rich by western standards, but globally you are.
I couldn’t find anywhere what they mean by 1%. If it’s as you say, and an annual income of €4500 is enough to be considered as such, then I think it would be quite excessive.
I am a student and I have nothing, and I am richer than 28% of my country because I don’t have debt.
If you earn 45000€ a year, which in many countries is just a bit above average, then you are richer than 99% of people in the entire world.