Wealth Tax: The systematic failure of politics

UNITE Trade Union in the UK, at its current annual conference in Brighton, is discussing lobbying the Labour Party and PM Andy Burnham to introduce a Wealth Tax, citing the Swiss Model and calling on anyone to tax the richest of the rich with an extra 1% income tax. UNITE claims 1% extra income tax would generate 25 billion extra GBP annually.

The German Union of Taxpayers (Steuerzahlerbund) estimates that annually € 8 billion is lost in mismanaging taxpayers' money in various ways: white elephants, exploding costs, double-track projects, etc. In 2025, Germany paid around € 25 billion in financial aid destined to keep developing countries in poverty. That same year, Germany paid € 24,8 billion for migration-related problems. No government official takes personal responsibility for these expenditures. Only politicians face consequences, seeing voters casting their ballots on election day with parties promising radical changes...before having to prove what they can really achieve.

To take from the rich and give to the poor, the old Robin Hood saga, in real life means the masses will consume, not invest and over time, compared to increase living standard seen poor again. A worker who gets double his income monthly will spend it on buying things for daily life. The increased consumption creates jobs in the manufacturing and service industry, which makes the owners richer every day. The extra income does not create substantially more jobs but makes the existing jobs more stable, and by using modern technology, the output is higher and cheaper. Higher consumption demand will call for more migrants to join the national workforce. The Robin Hood slogans generate votes without creating more investments and jobs.

Why should the rich carry the extra burden of failed politics, while creating an investment spirit creates an upstream of investments? When citizens are challenged and given the opportunity and structures to become entrepreneurs and rich themselves, not depending on tax handouts from the rich, an economy and society will boom and blossom. The masses, though they run to the state for employment in civil service or as employees in companies, stand on the principles of work-life balance instead of working 60 or 80 hours a week, pursuing their vision of their own company, their product to make a mark in the world economy, willing to have sleepless nights, scared when they lose their companies and hit rock bottom hard, willing to be away from family and friends for a considerable length of time and much more.

In highly developed countries like Germany and the UK, citizens see their social net as the minimum to fall back on and take the first approach to better their situation by calling for more help from others, the very rich in society; another form of handout. Trade Unions in these countries spearhead their calling instead of asking politicians, to increase the chances of the masses to take their fortune into their own hands and open up markets with training, angel funding, easier company registration, and, when bankrupt, not being seen as failures but as a stepping stone to create new and better chances to succeed.

Why should the rich pay more tax for political failures?