After Chancellor Angela Merkel met with representatives from the cultural and creative industries on April 27, 2021, an open letter was published the following day. More than 100 civil society organizations and intellectuals from the fields of science, art and culture addressed the German government. The letter calls for greater taxation of wealth. The idea is that wealth should be redistributed through progressive tax policies in order to prevent the further division of society into rich and poor.
Specifically, this can be achieved through:
- the reintroduction of an effective wealth tax with a high tax rate and a sufficient exemption amount,
- an effective taxation of large inheritances and gifts, especially of business assets,
- combating tax avoidance by multinational corporations, through EU-wide harmonization of corporate taxation and the introduction of an adequate minimum tax rate,
- raising the top income tax rate for particularly high incomes,
- a one-time wealth tax to cover the costs of the Corona crisis. Argentina has led the way.
(Proposals from the following source)
The 45 richest households own more than the poorer half of the population in Germany. Corona has made this even worse, according to Gini coefficients. To keep it from getting worse, the letter calls for reform of the tax system.
To read the open letter, click here.
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