The European Commission has registered an initiative to introduce a 1% wealth tax in the European Union.
The idea came from the European Citizens’ Initiative. The organizers call on the Commission to establish a single European wealth tax in the interests of environmental and social well-being. The goal of the initiative is to contribute to the fight against climate change and inequality in the EU and developing countries.
The initiative must collect at least one million signatures in at least seven EU member states in order for the European Commission to respond to it. In the case of collecting a million signatures, the European Commission will be obliged either to create appropriate legislation, or to motivately refuse the initiators.
Interestingly, only 9 initiatives have collected a million signatures in the entire history of the European Union.
If the European Citizens’ Initiative manages to garner a million votes, it still can’t be argued that the tax will be implemented quickly.
The issue of inequality in the EU is very acute and many countries are trying to respond to it at the local level. According to official figures, the richest 1% of Europeans own a fortune that is 4.5 times greater than the combined wealth of 90% of EU citizens.