While thousands of us face the impossible rise in the cost of basic goods or heating our homes this winter, the mega rich keep getting richer. It’s because billionaires don’t pay their fair share of taxes. [1]
The richest 1% own nearly half of all the wealth, but they barely pay any tax. They exploit tax havens and use loopholes to send as little taxes as possible to our governments - depriving all of us of vital money to finance our hospitals, teachers, and nurses. [2]
But now we have an opportunity to stop this injustice. Spain is already experimenting with taxing the wealth of the super rich. [3] This tax has and can generate billions of Euros, and bring the resources to finance the essential services we desperately need.
Together, let’s call for a tax on the rich for a more fair Europe! Demand a European wealth tax for the super rich!
This wealth tax on the super rich is already a reality in Spain: it’s currently raised over 1.8 billion Euros in 2023. [4] If adopted across Europe, we could inject billions into our healthcare systems, education and public transport. [5]
And we wouldn’t just have money for our failing public services, but also use it to help those communities most affected by the climate crisis. While the super-rich are most responsible for the climate crisis, it’s young people and the poor who are most affected. [6] They face the worst of droughts, floods, heatwaves and fires.
We believe we all should pay our fair share in tax and help those in need. Taxing the wealthiest more is what’s right, what’s needed, and will make a huge difference! But politicians won’t take action until they know the public is behind them. Together, let’s demand a wealth tax on the super rich!
References:
[1] Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a ‘true tax rate’ of just over 3% from 2014 to 2018.
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621477/bp-survival-of-the-richest-160123-en.pdf
For some other rich people, effective tax rates are worth just 0%-0.6% of their total wealth, according to: https://www.taxobservatory.eu/publication/global-tax-evasion-report-2024/
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/22/eu-funded-report-calls-for-wealth-of-super-rich-to-be-taxed-not-income
[3] Spain aims to increase revenue by 3.14 bln euros with new tax plans, https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/spain-hopes-gain-314-billion-euros-revenues-with-new-tax-proposals-2022-09-29/
https://www.taxnotes.com/featured-news/tax-justice-network-suggests-eu-wealth-tax-similar-spains/2023/09/20/7hcm
[4] Details of the Spanish wealth tax are here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/29/spain-agrees-on-new-asset-tax-for-wealthy-residents
https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report-international/spains-new-wealth-tax-beats-revenue-forecast-as-eu-mulls-stance
[5] A European wealth tax could start at 2 per cent on millionaires with wealth above €4.6 million, 3 per cent on those with wealth above €45.7 million and 5 per cent on billionaires.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/eus-richest-10-emit-much-planet-heating-emissions-half-eus-poorest-population,
https://www.socialeurope.eu/for-equality-and-the-climate-a-european-wealth-tax
[6] The super rich emit more carbon pollution than the 3.1 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/carbon-emissions-richest-1-percent-more-double-emissions-poorest-half-humanity
