EU, MEPs are calling for a tax on the ultra-rich

There are more than 130 MEPs calling for the tax for the ultra-rich. So they signed an international petition to participate in the “ecological and social transition”. What is it about? Leading this real battle against European billionaires are French MEP Aurore Lalucq (Socialists and Democrats, left) and economist Gabriel Zucman. An article published today in the newspaper Le Monde talks about it: “What we have managed to achieve for the multinationals, we must now do for the rich”, they write. The landmark agreement for a minimum global tax of 15% on multinational companies is expected to take effect this year.
The proposal
“Our proposal is simple: introduce a progressive tax on the wealth of the ultra-rich on an international scale to reduce inequalities and help finance the investments needed for the ecological and social transition”, explained the MEP and the economist, expert in tax evasion and high income taxation. The authors hint at the idea of ​​a 1.5% tax on assets of at least €50 million, but argue that the exact level of the tax should be decided “collectively and democratically”. Lalucq and Zucman invite the OECD and the United Nations to start negotiations on the tax and urge the EU to act. In the article they argue that in 2018 Elon Musk, at the time the second richest man in the world, “didn’t pay a penny in federal taxes” and that in France “the 370 richest families are actually taxed at only about 2 or 3%.” The petition was signed mainly by green and left-wing MEPs, a dozen economists and international NGOs including Oxfam.