Austria (Muhammad Amir Saddique ) The gap between rich and poor is growing in Austria. Corona has exacerbated the social imbalance. And instead of counteracting this, the ÖVP wants to give wealthy people tax gifts in the billions.
We call for a fairer change in the tax system!“In Austria, wealth is growing despite – but perhaps because of – Corona,” said Rendi-Wagner in the “Red Foyer”. The problem: not everyone benefits equally from this increase in wealth, only a few. The result is an extreme imbalance in the distribution of wealth. For Rendi-Wagner it is clear: “After such a crisis you cannot go back to the agenda.”It is clear to us that everyone must finally make a fair contribution to get Austria back on the fast track – in all areas: in education, health, business, research, care. Three steps are essential for a fairer change in the tax system: Fair taxes on high millions of assets and millions in inheritances are to be introduced.International online multinationals have to pay a fair solidarity tax in favor of the general public. We finally need a lowering of wage and income tax for small and medium incomes. Austria has to get back into balance.“Austria has to come into equilibrium, that has to be the goal for social peace, ” Rendi-Wagner made clear. According to the trend-rich list, the ten richest Austrians increased their wealth in the Corona year by almost 30 percent – that is 24 billion euros more than in 2019. And a study by the Chamber of Labor shows that board salaries also rose above average in the Corona year – an ATX board member earned 1.9 million euros in the Corona year. And that while hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, their businesses and over half a million people had less income due to short-time working. The latest revelations from the Ibiza committee of inquiry about the hidden files from Blümel’s finance ministry now show that the ÖVP wants to further fuel the unequal distribution of wealth through tax cuts for the super-rich and large corporations. Plans from the ÖVP-led Ministry of Finance have become known to reduce taxes for billions and millions of private foundations by more than half and even include their own “exit tax”: is currently paid is 27.5 percent, ”SPÖ finance spokesman Jan Krainer explained at the press conference. “Employees pay an average of 45 percent tax, foundations should only pay 10 percent according to the ÖVP plans – a tax gift of 11 billion. But Corona has made it clear who the real top performers are in Austria: the employees in the healthcare sector, in supermarkets, in garbage disposal, cleaning staff. It is therefore clear to us that we need to rethink. Austria needs a reorganization of the tax system, a real turnaround in tax policy – towards a fair financing of our country. “It will not work out to present the big, fat Corona bill to those of all people – the employees, the pensioners, the self-employed – who already pay the lion’s share of the total taxes,” said Rendi-Wagner.
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