<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/664/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/556/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/600/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/664/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/700/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/0/0/800/0/75/0/7d1c840_1695134491696-000-337b9bb.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="British millionaire Phil White calls for " taxing="" the="" rich"="" at="" world="" economic="" forum="" in="" davos,="" switzerland,="" january="" 18,="" 2023."="" width="100%" height="auto">
Nothing beats a well-documented and well-timed report. Two weeks after the launch of a broad appeal by economists and politicians to tax extreme wealth in the name of tax justice at the G20 summit in New Delhi – co-signed by 139 American and British millionaires ready to contribute without delay – the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament published a study on Wednesday, September 20, urging a move "from slogan to reality."
"Spain took the lead in Europe and introduced a temporary and progressive tax on wealth. But what if all EU countries were to introduce that same tax?" the Greens ask in the introduction to their report, referring to the "solidarity tax" introduced by Pedro Sanchez's Socialist government in early 2023, for a two-year period.
This study, carried out by the NGO Tax Justice Network using data on income, wealth and inequality, OECD statistics and the work of economists such as Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez, assessed "the potential of implementing a wealth tax and ending tax abuse of the super-rich." It delivered hard-hitting figures: A "moderate progressive" wealth tax, centered on the richest 0.5% of each European state, would bring in over €213 billion in additional tax revenue to public coffers every year. This "top 0.5%" alone holds almost 20% of Europe's wealth, compared with 3.5% for the least wealthy half of the population, the Greens pointed out. Furthermore, their wealth has increased by 35% in the last 10 years.
Germany and France, in particular, would reap substantial benefits from implementing a tax targeting the wealthiest individuals, with projected gains of €65.1 billion and €46.1 billion, respectively. But so too would the whole of Southern Europe, including Italy (with €27.2 billion), Portugal (€3.7 billion) and Greece (€1.4 billion). Unlike the tax passed in Spain or the French real estate wealth tax, the tax proposed by the Greens would apply to all assets (real estate, bank deposits, company shares, works of art, and so on).
Estimated revenue from a European wealth tax
Source: "Tax The Rich: from slogan to reality," report by the Greens–European Free Alliance
Unprecedented on a European scale, the calculation is a real eye-opener. These tax revenues would represent 1.35% of the combined GDP of the EU-27, which doesn't even take into account possible advancements in addressing tax avoidance by the wealthiest individuals in tax havens – a cause that the Greens are advocating for an increased focus on. It represents a sum equivalent to a check for €1,083 per European household, which would represent the promise of a significant redistribution of national wealth.
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