Tax us more, say wealthy Europeans

[CMatt25]

Jesus of course spoke about the difficulty the rich will have in getting into heaven. And at least this group of rich Europeans say they have more than they need. And are willing to pay more in taxes so the poor are not hurt as much by budget cuts and thus not forced to sacrifice disproportionately.

“None of us are in Buffett’s or Bettencourt’s league,” said the founder, Dieter Lehmkuhl, a retired doctor with assets of €1.5m (£1.3m). “We’re a broad church – teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs. Most of our wealth is inherited. But we have more money than we need.”

“I would say to Merkel that the answer to sorting out Germany’s financial problems, our public debt, is not to bring in cuts, which will disproportionately hit poorer people, but to tax the wealthy more,” said Lehmkuhl. “We are always hearing about savings packages, but never tax rises. Yet tax increases are a way out of this mess. That’s where the money is: rich people.”

“Something needs to be done to stop the gap between rich and poor getting even bigger.”

guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/29/tax-us-more-say-wealthy-europeans

 

[rlg94086]

Jesus of course spoke about the difficulty the rich will have in getting into heaven. And at least this group of rich Europeans say they have more than they need. And are willing to pay more in taxes so the poor are not hurt as much by budget cuts and thus not forced to sacrifice disproportionately.

“None of us are in Buffett’s or Bettencourt’s league,” said the founder, Dieter Lehmkuhl, a retired doctor with assets of €1.5m (£1.3m). “We’re a broad church – teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs. Most of our wealth is inherited. But we have more money than we need.”

“I would say to Merkel that the answer to sorting out Germany’s financial problems, our public debt, is not to bring in cuts, which will disproportionately hit poorer people, but to tax the wealthy more,” said Lehmkuhl. “We are always hearing about savings packages, but never tax rises. Yet tax increases are a way out of this mess. That’s where the money is: rich people.”

“Something needs to be done to stop the gap between rich and poor getting even bigger.”

guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/29/tax-us-more-say-wealthy-europeans

Good for them!

Perhaps they don’t have a provision where they can just send the extra money on their own. If that is the case, then by all means they should increase their taxes.

 

[Darryl1958]

The skills of the business and investment classes would be better served creating wealth and jobs for their nations rather than feeding bigger government.

The best welfare program is a good job this is the obligation that the rich have to society.Their capital is needed to employ us and put us to work building up their pool of capital for even more investment into the economy. This is something that only the business class can do effectively. Not everyone has been so gifted as they have been, not just with wealth, but the knowledge and the ability to actually create wealth.
Government does not need the wealth of the rich. What they tax of the rich is money that cannot be invested into the economy. What government needs is for the rich to create jobs which will generate much more taxable income from actual workers.

If the rich want to do good works, then put their countries to work again.

 

[CMatt25]

Good for them!

Perhaps they don’t have a provision where they can just send the extra money on their own. If that is the case, then by all means they should increase their taxes.

Except when the rich don’t send it in on their own and the poor or even perhaps some in the middle class are hurt more than necessary due to budget cuts and are forced to make sacrifices disproportionately to the rich in other ways besides taxes. And yet its the rich who cry class warfare.

 

[ishii]

Except when the rich don’t send it in on their own and the poor or even perhaps some in the middle class are hurt more than necessary due to budget cuts and are forced to make sacrifices disproportionately to the rich in other ways besides taxes. And yet its the rich who cry class warfare.

How are they hurt due to budget cuts?

 

[Saburo]

And yet its the rich who cry class warfare.

Class warefare has nothing to do with who is actually paying taxes and who is sucking the blood from those who produce. It is simply the cynical method by which leftist politicians seek to feed from the public trough of elected office. Facts are not important in class warfare. It is only important that you naively continue to believe the rich are your enemy and not notice that it is ever encroaching government which is stealing away your freedom, threatening your livelihood, and impinging on your ability to direct your charitable donations in the direction you choose.

Have you noticed that U.S. taxypayers are no longer able to donate cash to their church or any charity anymore unless they don’t mind losing the tax deduction? (thanks, Obama) Do you really think the government can do a better job of helping people with your taxes than you can when you apply charity directly?

As for the rich wanting to pay more in taxes: Talk is cheap – write a check! Not a government in the world would reject a check written to its treasury. Go ahead and test the theory. Send a buck to any government you choose and see if they return it. Christ will return in glory before a government returns a donation unspent.

 

[gardienbleu]

These rich who clamor for higher taxes do so not because of their benevolence, but because they have already made and invested their money and their standards of living would not be impeded. Their business endeavors would enjoy monopolistic protection because their competitors’ successes would be punished by confiscatory government policies.

Covetousness masquerades as altruism when misers want to be philanthropists with the wealth of others.

 

[He_Man]

How about they simply choose a social program or charity of their choosing and dump their cash on them? Sadly, it seems the ONLY form of charity they are aware of is forced taxation. Can they be that ignorant?

 

[Redbaron998]

So if the wealthy do come to the realization they have more money than they need why dont they give some of it away? There are millions of great charities out there, why do you need someone to take it from you?

 

[Carlan]

Good for them!

Perhaps they don’t have a provision where they can just send the extra money on their own. If that is the case, then by all means they should increase their taxes.

I am afraid right wing conservatism seems to have seduced many in these political threads.Peace,Carlan

 

[SamH]

A retired doctor with a lot of assets and relatively low income is asking for higher taxes - taxes that someone else will pay.

Seems typical.

 

[He_Man]

I am afraid right wing conservatism seems to have seduced many in these political threads.Peace,Carlan

No one has idea what you mean. Cryptic comments will get you nowhere.

How about you specifically state what your issue is with what was posted, rather than commenting like Frank Gorshin in Batman? It will be much more effective.

 

[MugenOne]

That’s true. If the economy goes to Hades, they know they’ ll have the most to loose. Nothing altruistic about this. German rich are old guards who control a vast area of the German industries like VW, BMW, MAN, etc.

These rich who clamor for higher taxes do so not because of their benevolence, but because they have already made and invested their money and their standards of living would not be impeded. Their business endeavors would enjoy monopolistic protection because their competitors’ successes would be punished by confiscatory government policies.

Covetousness masquerades as altruism when misers want to be philanthropists with the wealth of others.

 

[jam070406]

How about the fat rich bankers repent of their sin of usury?

 

[Carlan]

No one has idea what you mean. Cryptic comments will get you nowhere.

How about you specifically state what your issue is with what was posted, rather than commenting like Frank Gorshin in Batman? It will be much more effective.

I don’t follow the comics anymore, but you know good and proper what I mean. In these political threads you can always tell what you are about but the sad trouble is you can never tell you much. You need some like David Lamb to put ‘yous’ in your place.
Peace, Carlan

 

[St_Francis]

Except when the rich don’t send it in on their own and the poor or even perhaps some in the middle class are hurt more than necessary due to budget cuts and are forced to make sacrifices disproportionately to the rich in other ways besides taxes. And yet its the rich who cry class warfare.

I don’t follow the comics anymore, but you know good and proper what I mean. In these political threads you can always tell what you are about but the sad trouble is you can never tell you much. You need some like David Lamb to put ‘yous’ in your place.
Peace, Carlan

Perhaps the two of you could explain why these rich people are not donating the excess they claim they have to the government or to a charity to help the poor? Why are they merely advocating higher taxes?

 

[rlg94086]

Except when the rich don’t send it in on their own and the poor or even perhaps some in the middle class are hurt more than necessary due to budget cuts and are forced to make sacrifices disproportionately to the rich in other ways besides taxes. And yet its the rich who cry class warfare.

I didn’t know they were having a problem with that in Europe.

 

[Carlan]

Perhaps the two of you could explain why these rich people are not donating the excess they claim they have to the government or to a charity to help the poor? Why are they merely advocating higher taxes?

Well, St Francis, since they do not seem to mind paying their fair share of legal taxes and would not oppose giving more to a struggling economy when necessary, I would surmise they are most generous with their charity giving , at least strive to give 10% to charity as most of us lower middle income people do.
Peace, Carlan

 

[rlg94086]

Good for them!

Perhaps they don’t have a provision where they can just send the extra money on their own. If that is the case, then by all means they should increase their taxes.

I am afraid right wing conservatism seems to have seduced many in these political threads.Peace,Carlan

I don’t understand your response in relation to my post.

 

[He_Man]

I don’t follow the comics anymore, but you know good and proper what I mean. In these political threads you can always tell what you are about but the sad trouble is you can never tell you much. You need some like David Lamb to put ‘yous’ in your place.
Peace, Carlan

Again with the Riddler-esque responses.

Why not simply state what you think, like you do on the next page? You mention that you are sure these rich fat cats who want higher taxes certainly give generously, much like you do. Well, its great if they give 10% and want to be taxed at a higher rate. HOWEVER, it stands to reason that until such a time as they are being taxed more, they can up their contribution to say 20%, until such a time that the tax code is changed, correct?

Not to mention, you haven’t any proof that they are as generous as you. I suspect depite the debates on this board, most of the people here are quite generous, and moreso than the avergae joe, rich or poor. Look at the total collections each week in your local parish, and divide that total by the number of families, for example.

Or look at the charitable contributions as listed on last years tax returns. Or just look at statistics among who is giving and who isn’t.

Saying I should be taxed more is easy, and is grand-standing. Jesus asked us to be quiet about our charity, not say 'look at me, I have a lot of money, I could do with less!" A truly caring person who felt they were being taxed too little would simply dump their excess on any of the myriad of charities that exist and be done with it.

Do we need to repost the statistics about charitbale giving? I don’t care how much my neighbor gives personally, as I am responsible for my family. But it gets tiresome to hear it from others, so hera you go:

realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html

If many conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, Brooks, a registered independent, is, as a reviewer of his book said, a social scientist who has been mugged by data. They include these findings:
*-- Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227). *
*-- Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood. *
*-- Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush. *
*-- Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average. *
– In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
– People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition