ARD (public TV, Channel One) did a survey and found that 3 in 4 Germans were open to the idea.....meaning just a quarter of the population were against it. The chief party pushing a wealth tax? The SPD Party.
The basis of the wealth tax idea? The SPD folks have a plan which is in the public eye....taxing assets (meaning property, houses, boats, investment accounts, gold, diamonds, etc) that you own....with a value of two million euros up with a one percent tax. There would be a gradual increase.....up to anyone over the value of one billion Euro....with your tax set at two percent.
The SPD folks figure they'd restock the spending revenue pot, and really be in a clear position to give back to the communities and people.
So the history of this? In Europe, it's not that great. In 1990, twelve European countries had it.....today, just four. Why the retreat? These efforts are generally designed along a route where you (the rich guy) realize the implications and basically give up....meaning you sell out, and move to some place without the issues. You end up taking your cash and wealth with you.
The four remaining with a wealth tax? Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Norway. Yes, even Sweden dumped theirs.
The previous attempt in Germany to run a wealth tax? Well, this gets to an interesting point. This highly constructed wealth tax vehicle (you can imagine Germans devising this) built various views of what was wealth tax acceptable, and what was not. So some 'pass-through' situations were developed. Naturally, the Constitutional Court system got involved and said 'no'.....everyone suffers at the same rate, or you get rid of the 'pass-through' situations.
The basic issue that will be the driving force is that capitalism has created an inequality and you intend to resolve this...by redistribution.
The problems?
You can start with capital flight. Those affected will eventually realize the impact....sell their property or companies, shift their money around, and leave the country. The nice upscale house worth 10-million Euro? It'll be entrusted to a foundation as a charity operation.
The second issue is that you end up with politicians who curiously fall into this wealth 'trap' and get kinda frustrated that this capital they earned as a lawyer or accountant, or were left by dad....is also falling into the wealth tax pot. They end up writing little escape paths, to avoid taxation. This ends up being discussed and identifies you as 'corrupted'.
Then you come to the issue of taking the money and just handing it over to the most deserving. The governments that do this wealth tax situation....typically want the money spread around beyond the needy people....so instead of picking out the eight-million most deserving Germans who need 1,200 Euro a month more....you end up with various programs and money ends up paying for railway bridges, national parks, autobahn rest-stops, and university studies over Peruvian bats. Even the billionaire folks will point at the ten-thousand projects and just start laughing.
You would think that once you establish the new revenue pot with 25 billion Euro....it'd be a simple task to write the code, and just say those making less than 25,000 Euro a year will get added money....straight away, and no waste of tax revenue. The extra programs, the train station renovation projects, the 14-million Euro autobahn bridges, and the new Berlin Airport terminal building? It'd just come from the regular pot of taxation.
What'll happen with the German wealth tax idea? It'll linger there, and be a minor discussion topic for the 2021 national election. Here's the curious thing....if the SPD Party is the only one pushing this....and they remain at 12-to-14 percent on polling, then the idea will continue to linger there. I'm not giving it that much of a chance to advance into law.
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