Wealth Tax, Way to Think about Development

By Abdelhak Azouzi

Elections in Western countries are often linked to tax, which are a key factor in expanding political participation and bringing in votes. 

Public funds are "taxpayers money" and hence the foundation of public policy since the 1950s. The spreading of "government" principle helped for the development of this idea.

This direction appeared firstly in the United States, where books were written about it and theories were emerged to establish the collective and inpidual interests.

The theories formulate "purpose" and "development" policies starting from a basic rule, which is “how to think about earning more money and less costs as long as the public funds are the taxpayers` money.

When countries manipulate laws and fiscal rules, transparency is lacking; greed, fraud and defending an overly optimistic and fraudulent investment climate lead to economic crises and unplanned bombings.

Taxes are not only related to elections but also to social peace. 

We remember that the reasons that sparked Yellow Vest protests in France include high prices and taxes .

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published in one of its reports that France surpassed Denmark to record the highest tax revenues among developed countries recently.

The government's tax revenues witnessed a high record that did not help France`s President Emmanuel Macron to ease the angry protesters because of the rising cost of living.

According to the report, France's total governmental tax revenues averaged 34.2 % of GDP among the 34 advanced countries. 

As a result of Macron`s national dialogue held at the Elysee Palace to get out of the crisis of Yellow Vests in France, he tackled taxes issue.

Macron said: “French people should work more closely with their counterparts of the neighboring countries to achieve the accumulation of wealth. 

He decided to decrease approximately € 5 billion from the taxes on the workers` income pointing out that it will be financed by filling the tax gaps resulting from exemptions, increasing working hours and reducing government expenditure.

The request for increasing the taxes may be linked to unique cases that are rarely found in the books we teach to our students at universities. They come from the taxpayers themselves. 

It worth mentioning the open letter was signed by the US most wealthy people and 2020 presidential candidates. 

The letter called for imposing taxes on the filthy rich to promote equality and fight climate change.

They said in the letter, "There is a moral and economic responsibility on the United States to impose more taxes on our wealth.''

The US most prominent rich, has confirmed that they do not belong to any party and do not support any candidate.

The 18 signatories include Walt Disney's heirs, owners of Hayat and George Soros hotels, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and the billionaire Charlie Munger`s daughter Molly Munger. 

The letter pointed out that billionaire Warren Buffett, for example, pays less taxes than his secretary.

The names of many signatories have been linked to initiatives which focused on problems such as climate change and widening financial gaps among Americans.

Nobody thinks that these demands will not benefit the public treasury. 

The potential presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, US Senator, calls to impose higher taxes on people whose wealth exceeds $ 50 million.

She says in her speeches that if this proposal is implemented in the future, it will affect the 75 thousand families of the richest families in the US.

The serious reports have estimated that funds that may enter the US treasury are estimated to reach almost $ 2.75 trillion.

Finally, taxes, elections, middle classes, rich and poor are all components of a balanced equation that may lead to the development, confidence and social if succeeded. The fail of this equation will  ignite the fuel of non-peace and economic crises.

Contributed by Ahmad El-Assasy.