More than 250 billionaires and millionaires on Wednesday reiterated their call on elected representatives of the world’s leading economies to introduce higher taxes on the very richest in society.
In an open letter to political leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the rich signatories said they wished to deliver a clear message: “Tax our extreme wealth.”
“We are surprised that you have failed to answer a simple question that we have been asking for three years: when will you tax extreme wealth?” the letter said.
“Our request is simple: we ask you to tax us, the very richest in society. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm our nations’ economic growth. But it will turn extreme and unproductive private wealth into an investment for our common democratic future.”
As a wise man once said: “Give it away, give it away, give it away now”
At first I thought this was billionaires only and it would be somewhat significant. Then I saw Simon Pegg listed and did a triple take, then realized I missed the words “and millionaires” in the first sentence.
I’m guessing there aren’t that many billionaires that would put their names on this list. ~250 millionaires is nothing, there are millions of them.
Politicians: “Yeah, but I’m still not as extremely wealthy as I’d lile, so… maybe tomorrow…”
This is marketing. If they really wanted this they would lobby for it, the same way they get all their other interests looked after.
lob·by: seek to influence (a politician or public official) on an issue.
How isn’t this lobbying?
Not the dictionary definition of lobby, but the colloquial sense where it’s a synonym for bribery.
Maybe you should use “bribery” then
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. We literally have a system of legalized bribery in the US. Sure they call it “campaign finance donations,” but it’s no coincidence that politicians come through for those donors every single time. Sadly, this includes foreign governments as well (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, etc.)
The only surprising thing about this is that more foreign governments haven’t caught on. Our politicians are on sale for surprisingly cheap.
No. Maybe you should mind your business.
Put your money where your mouth is and then I will believe it - bribe/threaten to withhold funds from a politician and just get it done.
Putin does that by funding things like the NRA and Faux News.
It’s highly effective.
We need a good man like Davos in charge. A fine and honorable man. A man who could smuggle an onion through naval blockade.
I’ll reply to that the same way the head of the US treasury replied once for US billionaires who were saying they should pay more tax “Don’t wait, we accept gifts, donations, and any money you want to send us, check our site, call us up, whatever, you can do it via cash, wire transfer, credit, or check. We stand by for you to send us that extra money”
I guess it’s fun to cosplay as a poor, but they keep bribing politicians to prevent that. Their wealth can make that happen if they actually wanted that.
Maybe they should stop bribing elected officials to lower taxes on them then?
Talk about crocodile tears, ffs.
I mean I get what you’re saying, but these people asking to get taxed more “obviously” aren’t the people lobbying government to not get taxed. I’d bet it’s the CEOs and “lower level” assholes that want every benefit imaginable so they can appear to be doing a Good Job™ and collect their massive bonuses. :(
and it’s not like their governments wouldn’t accept extra money, either. i know the u.s. government accepts ‘donations’ to the general budget or specifically to reduce the federal (public) debt.
But donating quietly would defeat their purpose to publically “take a stand”, in the hope we wouldn’t have a massive BBQ!
Them: “Gee things are getting bad… The last time the poor were this bad off heads started rolling… How did we avoid that? Ohh yeah! Concessions! What if we SAY we want to give them concessions, and then tell the government not to? That should work!”
-The wealthy leeches, enemies of humanity
If you’re an EU citizen, you can sign this petition for an EU wealth tax https://eci.ec.europa.eu/038/public/#/screen/home
Great, thnx for sharing!
I made a list of all the things preventing billionaires from building community projects (such as sports facilities, primary healthcare clinics, funding teachers, child care centres) to benefit working people :
They don’t even have to do the work.
They can donate to progressives in primaries to offset the donations from other billionaires…
It’s just they know they get the same PR for just saying this, so it’s all they do.
