With a view to the costs of rebuilding Ukraine, SPD leader Saskia Esken has called for a wealth tax.
"In order to finance an effective, solidarity-based state that holds society in our country together, supports reconstruction in Ukraine and at the same time does not turn a blind eye to the global hunger crisis, we must finally implement a solidarity-based asset levy on the part of the super-rich," Esken told the editorial network Germany .
The parliamentary group leader of the left, Dietmar Bartsch, also commented accordingly.
“We need Europe-wide participation by the super-rich.
It shouldn't be the case that normal taxpayers, who are already suffering from inflation and energy prices, have to pay the war bills alone.” Bartsch demanded that Russia should be involved in the reconstruction through the use of confiscated assets from Russian oligarchs.
At the SPD party conference in 2019, there was a vote in favor of reviving the wealth tax in view of the Corona crisis.
Wealth tax has not been levied since 1997.
The reason for this is a judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court, which rejected the different treatment of the various types of assets.
Experts question the benefit of such a levy, for example because it could result in capital flight and a drop in investment.
Against the background of the corona pandemic and lockdowns, scientists from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy criticized that a wealth tax would weaken the equity of companies and the self-employed and reduce the chances of a robust recovery after the crisis.
Your income would be offset by reduced income from other types of taxes, "which should lead to a negative total tax revenue".