If you have, you give - this is the slogan of a campaign by left-green organizations and social scientists who are dear to them to form an “alliance for redistribution”.

“The rich have to pay for the crisis,” is the demand of the group, which is joined by Oxfam, Attac, Fridays for Future and the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband, among others.

Because wealth is indecent, the millionaires should be asked to pay for the damage caused by the corona pandemic.

Rainer Hank

Freelance writer in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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    Now the initiative could be ignored as a niche project if it weren't for elections in September.

    The activists are preparing a redistribution day of action on August 21, four weeks before the election, which is supposed to really heat up the parties.

    The heat can already be felt.

    I have given myself the somewhat special pleasure of combing through the party platforms to see what will become of the wealthy.

    The bottom line: you could soon look poor.

    Or more precisely: you should think carefully about how to keep your wealth safe.

    Whoever has will be taken from them

    We are still waiting for the Union's program. The FDP announced last weekend that it would prevent higher taxes (or once again not participate in governing). At the AfD, you never really know what it wants. The tax concepts of the Greens, the SPD and the Left can be summarized under the motto “Whoever has, will be taken from them”: Higher top tax rates on income, more inheritance tax, rich solos up to Saint Never's Day. The reintroduction of a wealth tax is also taking up a lot of space. The warning about R2G (“Red-Red-Green”) is more than pessimism about purpose. In the current Sunday questions, they come together to around 47 percent of the vote.

    So that it remains clear, I want to concentrate here on this wealth tax, which can be found in all programs of the three left parties. It is a so-called substance tax, so it would be levied on wealth year after year, regardless of whether it increases or decreases. The Greens and the SPD each have an annual wealth tax of 1 percent above two million euros in assets in their programs. The left put a few shovels on it: The tax increases from a fortune of 50 million euros to 5 percent, that would be 2.5 million euros annually. In addition, there should be a hefty property levy to repair corona damage, which, spread over 20 years, rises to up to 30 percent of the total assets.

    To justify their plans, the Greens cite “the increasing inequality” in the country, which they do not want to come to terms with. The focus of the SPD is on "improving the financial strength of the federal states for important future tasks". Whoever has a lot should pay a lot. That is the famous answer of the bank robber Willie Sutton when asked why he raided banks: "Because that's where the money is." The parties do not dwell on such trivial matters.