Posted on 04/23/2013 6:12:18 PM PDT by Lorianne
Around 400,000 Britons live or own homes in the south of Spain, which is suffering a deep recession that is hampering Madrid’s attempts to balance the public finances and stave off a bail-out.
Senior figures in Germany are now arguing that some richer home owners in countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece have so far avoided paying their fair share to rescue the euro, leaving Germany paying too much.
Taxes on property or other assets would mark a significant change in Europe’s approach to funding bail-outs for eurozone members. Until now, the cost of rescue packages for countries like Ireland, Greece and Portugal has fallen largely on people who invest money in either those countries’ bonds or – in the case of Cyprus – bank accounts.
Prof Peter Bofinger, an adviser to Mrs Merkel, said that levies on bank accounts are the wrong way of funding bail-outs, because rich people are able to shift their money out of the country.
“The resourceful rich just move their money to banks in northern Europe and avoid paying,” Prof Bofinger told Der Spiegel, a German magazine.
Instead of taxing cash, European Union governments should in future target property and other, less mobile assets, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sounds just like Obama. After all, there should be a limit on how much an individual should be ALLOWED to earn or accumulate. Spread the wealth around.
Confiscation of U.S. retirement savings to come. Sheesh, $16 trillion out there in private accounts will go a long way in reducing the public debt. No worry, it’ll be doled back to you in social security dribs and drabs should you live long enough. Here take this ObamaCare pill and be happy. Ain’t central planning grand.
Sooner or later they are going to run out of other people’s money.
First Cyprus and now going after people who save in the EU.
Learn the lesson people. Americans are going to force any of you with a bank account to donate a good deal of it to them in distribution rather than they learn self responsibility or shrinking the size of government.
We are so screwed and are no longer the old America.
This article tells us IMO what to expect in the near future in Socialist America.
That's where I keep getting confused. I thought it was central vacuuming.
Karl Marx would approve.
“Target less mobile assets.”There’s no escape from these bastards.
A wealth tax is no less fair than an income tax.
The wealthy have used an income tax to reduce the ranks of the wealthy for years. Why do you think Warren Buffet is always on his high horse for higher income taxes? He is already wealthy, income taxes do not effect him. He makes his money on his wealth, not wages.
I’m sure Prof Bofinger is of the “tax the hell out of thee, but not me” crowd.
That’s when they’ll take property instead
sure there is. it’s Europe after all
the rich should hire professionals to take them all out in their sleep.
problem solved
let’s say you have $50m tied up in real estate... and they want to take $25m of it.
it’d be A LOT cheaper to take them out @ $100k ea
(if I were writing a movie script, that’s how it’d go down)
I like the way you solve problems.
how would you deal with a thief that came into your house and was intent on stealing half of everything you have?
normal thieves are rarely able to make off with 1% of the value of the property. these people are much worse
back in the 1800s, how did we deal with someone that stole your horse? same idea
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