*[Enwl-eng] Europe, tax the top 1%!
ENWLine
This petition was launched on our YouMove platform by a group of European lawyers, economists and political scientists, including Thomas Piketty. We think you might be interested.
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Tax the rich, not the poor! Thousands of people in yellow vests have been protesting for weeks on the streets to demand just that and the movement is growing all over Europe. Join us in the fight for tax justice in Europe!! |
Hi Vladimir!
Tax the rich, not the poor! Thousands of people in yellow vests have been protesting for weeks on the streets to demand just that - not only in France, but also in Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands and the UK. [1] As working people and the middle class have to increasingly bear the burden of taxation, big corporations pay only a tiny proportion of their profits.
Here’s the plan: world-renowned economist Thomas Piketty [2] and a group of social scientists have put together a manifesto with concrete, bold proposals to tax the richest companies and individuals in Europe. If we can persuade just two European governments to sign up to it, we can kickstart a radical transformation.
The manifesto is spreading across Europe like wildfire with thousands of citizens having already declare their support. With the momentum of the ‘yellow vest’ protests, this could start a tidal wave of support for tax justice that our leaders won’t be able to ignore.
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Rich corporations are part of the top 1% and they are so powerful they often get away with paying hardly any tax. In 2014, Amazon in Germany only paid 16 million dollars in tax despite sales of 11.9 billion - that’s less than 1%. That same year, Facebook, one of the richest corporations in the world, paid less than 5,000 pounds going to the British treasury. [3]
Just imagine what could be done with all this money! We could start transforming our model of economic growth, have enough money for the reception and integration of migrants, provide decent funding for European universities, and so much more…
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Piketty and his team called their manifesto a “Treaty for the democratization of Europe”. They propose establishing a new European Assembly composed of members of national parliaments and of the European parliament. This assembly would have the power to introduce taxes on corporate profits and on top incomes and wealth. It could create a new, large European budget of around 4% of GDP for real public investments (right now the whole EU budget is just 1% of EU’s GDP). [4]
WeMove is a citizen’s movement committed to a better Europe. On many occasions we have used our collective voice to make European institutions, corporations and governments bend. We can be the seeds of a true, deep change in Europe, for justice and democracy. Sign the manifesto for a new, better Europe!
Looking forward to the bold change,
Mika (Bordeaux), Alex
(Marseille), Virginia (Madrid) and the entire WeMove team
PS. Piketty’s proposal for just taxation goes beyond the usual European logic of ‘rich countries’ transferring money to the ‘poor’ ones. It's to ensure that the richest Europeans and multinational corporations pay their fair share, not only hard working people. Sign!
References:
[1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqkbKe02kdc
[2] Thomas Piketty
is French economist, expert on inequality and author of the groundbreaking book
Capital in the 21st Century in which he demonstrates how inequalities are on the
rise across the globe.
[3]
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazonamazon-com-tax-idUSKBN0OB0SY20150526
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/oct/11/facebook-paid-4327-corporation-tax-despite-35-million-staff-bonuses
[4]
https://infacts.org/briefings/eu-budget/ . For European countries
this number is typically between 40 and 60%, e.g.
https://tradingeconomics.com/france/government-spending-to-gdp ,
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/government-spending-to-gdp
You Move Europe is an online
action platform dedicated to help making Europe a more democratic,
environmentally and socially just place. You Move Europe puts power in
your hands. If you have an idea to make Europe a better place, You Move
Europe helps you make it a reality. Petitions on this platform are started
and run by civil society groups and members of the public. WeMove.EU hosts these
petitions and they are in line with our values but they are not necessarily
endorsed by WeMove.EU. 
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