New Development in the East?

BBC NEWS Europe Rich Germans demand higher taxes: "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."

This trust of government sounds quite different from the tunes from the US. So far have 44 persons signed the petition that would raise €100bn over two years with a 5% wealth tax.

Politically this sounds like buying into power in Germany, rather than the EU, since many countries would not be able to copy this procedure. The petitioners want to fund ecological programmes, education and social projects.

As long as it is not permanent it is an interesting idea that potentially could reverse the bad reputation of the super rich also in the wake of the financial crisis. The top 1% in the US owns more than the bottom 90%. Something for Sweden as well?

Paul Krugman showed a graph on his blog where the wealth of the richest 1% increased dramatically just prior to 1929 and 2008. Is it pay back time?

From Marginal Revolution.