Social democracy

Calls grow in Europe for wealth tax to finance the green transition

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, October 26, 2023

Slowly but surely, calls for a wealth tax to finance the green transition are picking up in Europe, with a number of initiatives from different political movements put the issue (back) on the political agenda.

Key Points: 
  • Slowly but surely, calls for a wealth tax to finance the green transition are picking up in Europe, with a number of initiatives from different political movements put the issue (back) on the political agenda.
  • It found that a European tax on the 0.5% richest households would bring in 213 billion euros a year, anything but insignificant.
  • This is all the more remarkable given the virtual disappearance of wealth taxes within the member states of the EU.

Ended in France, suspended in Germany

  • To plug the budgetary hole, Macron replaced it with a tax on property wealth, the IFI.
  • The impact of the change on reducing the tax exile rate or improving the country’s competitiveness remains unproven.
  • As property was taxed less heavily than financial assets, the court asked Helmut Kohl’s government to revise the property values on which wealth tax was based.
  • As the Kohl government chose not to do so, the tax was automatically suspended – though not abolished – on 1 January 1997.

An unlikely return to the national level

  • In the two countries often described as the “engines of Europe”, the question of a return of capital taxation has frequently arisen.
  • In Germany, all the left-wing parties put it on their manifesto at every legislative election, but with the exception of die Linke, none is taking action.
  • Interviews we conducted with SPD and Green Party members of parliament between 2010 and 2016 show that the defence of wealth tax is just a façade.
  • Although business assets have been excluded from the tax base, the tax was decried as a disguised corporate tax.

A European solution?

  • By moving to the European level, the supporters of a wealth tax can bypass the criticism that individual nations’ firms are being weakened in European economic competition.
  • It is certainly this dimension that has led France’s Ministry of Economics to keep open the possibility of a European wealth tax.
  • If the European Citizens’ Initiative reaches the required number of signatures, it would enable supporters of the wealth tax to mobilise European public opinion.


Martin Baloge ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

The Voice campaign showed Labor's strategy for countering right-wing populism is in disarray

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Albanese had partly won the election by pledging to bring Australians together to build a better, more equal Australia.

Key Points: 
  • Albanese had partly won the election by pledging to bring Australians together to build a better, more equal Australia.
  • However, the Voice outcome has revealed Labor’s strategy for sidestepping right-wing populism to be in disarray.
  • You have the same rights and opportunities – the same democratic voice – as every other Australian.
  • You have the same rights and opportunities – the same democratic voice – as every other Australian.

A misguided sense of ‘equality’

    • It was also a conception of equality that has long been used by the Coalition when dealing with Indigenous affairs.
    • Peter Dutton may have been somewhat Trumpian in his suggestions that the Australian electoral commission couldn’t be trusted to be impartial.
    • Read more:
      What are 'Advance' and 'Fair Australia', and why are they spearheading the 'no' campaign on the Voice?
    • Given these comparable strategies, it may not be surprising that the Voice referendum results show similarities with the 1999 republic referendum results.

Albanese’s ‘new politics’ is in fact very old

    • Albanese may have believed his election victory represented a “new politics”, but in fact his government, and the broader “yes” case, have been fighting a very old politics over the Voice.
    • The Voice referendum lost for diverse reasons, including the lack of bipartisan support and a successful fear campaign that sometimes mobilised quite horrible racism.
    • The fact that the official “no” campaign was headed by two Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, was particularly important in this context.
    • Perhaps Labor was lulled into a false sense of security by the marriage equality plebiscite outcome.

Slovakia may be about to elect a government which plans to halt aid to Kyiv

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 28, 2023

After the outbreak of the illegal Russian war in Ukraine, Slovakia was one of the first states to offer support to its neighbour.

Key Points: 
  • After the outbreak of the illegal Russian war in Ukraine, Slovakia was one of the first states to offer support to its neighbour.
  • Slovakians warmly welcomed Ukrainian refugees and its coalition governments have staunchly maintained political, economic and military aid for Kyiv.
  • The key for both sides is being able to put together a stable enough coalition to form government, and here’s where it gets complicated.

Pro-Kyiv bloc

    • When it comes to the war in Ukraine, the pro-Kyiv bloc is a coalition of parties with very different ideologies which could find it hard to form a stable government.
    • Another pro-Ukrainian party is Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (Olano), a populist centre-right, anti-establishment party which is polling at 9.4%.
    • But the prospects of PS having the numbers to form a working coalition are far from certain as the campaign goes into its final day.

Anti-Ukraine bloc

    • Smer and its leader, Fico, supports Slovakia’s membership of the EU and Nato, but is opposed to allowing Ukraine to join either alliance.
    • The party has said it would halt economic and military support to Ukraine.
    • But Hlas, which is polling at 15%, is opposed to forming a coalition with extreme right-wing parties.

Danger signs for Kyiv

    • As it stands, Slovakia may be the first country to change its policy and stop supporting Ukraine.
    • But there are signs other countries could follow suit.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden: 50 years of banal royalism

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 1, 2023

People around the world observed, in close detail, how the UK’s royal institution consolidates its authority by using ritual to link to the past.

Key Points: 
  • People around the world observed, in close detail, how the UK’s royal institution consolidates its authority by using ritual to link to the past.
  • Over the weekend of September 15 and 16 2023, Sweden will celebrate its own royal occasion, the golden jubilee of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
  • This may be of interest to the British royal family if their popularity continues to decrease over time.

Towards a low-key monarchy

    • Of the nine remaining hereditary monarchies in Europe, the Swedish monarchy has the least power and resources.
    • Many members of the Social Democratic party were pushing for the country to become a republic, while the more conservative voices sought to retain the monarchy.
    • Instead, it would remain a constitutional monarchy, with the Bernadotte dynasty holding the throne.
    • By doing away with this antiquated tradition of male-preference primogeniture, the monarchy was aligned with modernity.

An ordinary (royal) family

    • The Year with the Royal Family has been part of Christmas scheduling on public service TV since 1977.
    • A typical scene from 1985 features the family making sausages in the palace kitchen – the king in a red cardigan, the children in matching white aprons.
    • These media portrayals have sought to underline quite how ordinary the royal family is and how the public might identify with them.
    • In his 1995 book, Banal Nationalism, British social psychologist Michael Billig unpicks how nationalism is reproduced in everyday life via ordinary, unremarkable reminders.
    • Similarly, we might talk about “banal royalism” to describe how closely tied the Swedish royal institution is to the private lives of ordinary citizens – their superiority accentuated by their proximity to normal people.

Intensive visits underscore China's diplomatic ideals widely recognized, welcomed

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 7, 2022

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrapped up his short but meaningful visit to Beijing on Friday, agreeing on enhanced dialogue and cooperation and rejecting decoupling and bloc confrontation.

Key Points: 
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrapped up his short but meaningful visit to Beijing on Friday, agreeing on enhanced dialogue and cooperation and rejecting decoupling and bloc confrontation.
  • The visit also shows the closeness of China-Tanzania relations and the important status of China-Africa ties in China's overall diplomacy.
  • "Germany and China rejecting decoupling is actually boosting confidence in globalization, reshaping relations with China as a partner," he said.
  • For some countries such as Germany and Vietnam with which we have divergences on certain issues, the cooperation has surpassed the differences now," Wang said.

America First Declares the Dade County Florida Republican Party Dead, Less Than 19% Voter Turnout in August Primary Election

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 29, 2022

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --America First declares the Dade County Florida Republican Party dead.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --America First declares the Dade County Florida Republican Party dead.
  • Disgusted Republican voters have simply given up on the corrupt Republican Party, which is infested with Socialist Democrats.
  • The Republican party is failing on all fronts and the voter base has lost confidence and quit.
  • Case in point, over 82% of Republican Voters in Florida 28th Congressional District did not even bother to vote in the Primary.

America First Poll Shows Republican KW Miller With Double-Digit Lead Over RINO Carlos Gimenez In Florida's 28th District Primary Race

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 12, 2022

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America First Political Committee today announced that polling shows Republican KW Miller has a double-diget lead over RINO Carlos Gimenez in Florida's 28th Congressional District Primary Race.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America First Political Committee today announced that polling shows Republican KW Miller has a double-diget lead over RINO Carlos Gimenez in Florida's 28th Congressional District Primary Race.
  • America First projects that KW Miller will handily win the Republican Primary on August 23.
  • RINO Gimenez otherwise known as a Socialist Democrat, has a long record of supporting radical socialist policy, dating back to his time as Miami-Dade Mayor.
  • In Washington, D.C., RINO Gimenez has voted with Nancy Pelosi and the radical leftists.

Paperboy Prince announces political campaign in Queens with a party and speech, calls out incumbent politicians

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 11, 2022

WHAT:Paperboy Love Prince will entertain the crowd of volunteers and present SDA's platform.

Key Points: 
  • WHAT:Paperboy Love Prince will entertain the crowd of volunteers and present SDA's platform.
  • About Social Democrat of America:SDA is a Maryland Based 501(c)4 whose purpose is to create a humane social order based on Social Democracy, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships.
  • SDA organizes locally for the achievement of these goals by conducting educational and informational seminars in order to build a majority movement that will promote Social Democracy.
  • Paperboy Love Prince is the SDA candidate in congressional district 7.

Socialist RINO Carlos Gimenez (FL 28) Voted for the 'January 6' Democrat 'Witch Hunt' Against American Citizens and Republican Voters

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 23, 2022

RINO Carlos Gimenezotherwise known as a Socialist Democrat, has a long record of supporting radical socialist policy, dating back to his time as Miami-Dade Mayor.

Key Points: 
  • RINO Carlos Gimenezotherwise known as a Socialist Democrat, has a long record of supporting radical socialist policy, dating back to his time as Miami-Dade Mayor.
  • As Miami-Dade Mayor, RINO Gimenez locked down and destroyed small businesses during Covid.Gimenez was also tainted with corruption and ethics accusations including unauthorized business dealings with Communist China.
  • In Washington, D.C., RINO Gimenez has voted with Nancy Pelosi and the radical leftists.
  • RINO Gimenez has openly voted withNancy Pelosiand the radical Democrats in Congress on critical 'Unconstitutional Issues' far too many times and continues to support a socialist agenda:
    RINO Gimenez openly supported and Voted forHillary Clintonand the Clinton Agenda in 2016;
    RINO Gimenez also voted forthe 'January 6' Democrat'Witch Hunt' against American Citizens and Republican voters;
    RINO Gimenez voted withNancy Pelosion H.R.

America First Makes RINO Carlos Gimenez (Fl-28) Top Target for Removal from Congress in Florida's August Republican Primary Elections

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 15, 2022

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America First Political Committee today announced that Censured RINOCarlos Gimenez(FL-28 Congressional District) is the top RINO target for removal from Congress in the August 23, 2022 Florida primary election.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America First Political Committee today announced that Censured RINOCarlos Gimenez(FL-28 Congressional District) is the top RINO target for removal from Congress in the August 23, 2022 Florida primary election.
  • RINO Gimenezotherwise known as a Socialist Democrat, has a long record of supporting radical socialist policy, dating back to his time as Miami-Dade Mayor.
  • As Miami-Dade Mayor, RINO Gimenez locked down and destroyed small businesses during Covid.Gimenez was also tainted with corruption and ethics accusations including unauthorized business dealings with Communist China.
  • In Washington, D.C., RINO Gimenez has voted with Nancy Pelosi and the radical leftists.