International

At the suggestion of the SP, the Netherlands will now take the initiative to work internationally on a global billionaire tax.

While there are queues at food banks and a million people living in poverty, there are also people with a fortune of over a billion. In the Netherlands, billionaires pay less tax than in France or the United States. It is inappropriate that eight people have as much as the poorest half of the world's population. The 2120 richest Dutch people own as much as 10 million Dutch people. It is time for a global billionaire tax.

The world has under 3000 billionaires with total assets of almost 12,300 billion euros. Over the past 3 years, the wealth of the world's richest 1% increased by as much as 2.6 billion euros a day. Europe has nearly 500 billionaires, with total assets of 2,300 billion euros. Researchers have calculated that a 2% global wealth tax would generate over €190 billion annually.

Billionaires in the Netherlands paying less tax than working people is a political choice. Now, governments miss out on €427 billion annually due to tax evasion by companies and rich individuals, and the Netherlands is a major player. The Netherlands lets billionaires profit at the expense of society. The SP believes we should be leading the battle for a fair distribution of wealth. The Lower House agreed to the SP proposal for a 15% global minimum profit tax for multinationals that was agreed by 140 countries. This is the beginning of a definitive stop to tax avoidance. The next step is to tax billionaires worldwide. Stop half-hearted efforts to make tax fairer and tax the billionaires!