The corona crisis does not only have losers.
A CSU minister now wants to ask the profiteers to pay more - the SPD should be happy.
Amazon and Co. rather not.
Berlin -
Angela Merkel
(CDU) sounded the alarm
weeks
ago: Even Germany's funds are not unlimited in the Corona crisis, the Chancellor indicated - and the
Federal Republic
, as the GroKo also reads, is still one of those countries that are best are prepared for large special editions.
In view of this, a
CSU minister from Merkel's cabinet is
now calling for
the rich to make
a noticeable
contribution to coping with the pandemic
.
However, this does not mean any tax increases, which party leader Markus Söder rejects.
Instead,
Development
Minister
Gerd Müller
is targeting the “super-rich” - and among them, in turn, the very richest: Internet billionaires like
Jeff Bezos
and Mark
Zuckerberg
with their online empires
Amazon
and
.
"I think it would be appropriate if super-rich crisis winners now voluntarily participate in the financing of the crisis management," said Müller in an interview published on Friday in the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The businesses of these corporations boomed, while businesses in the pedestrian streets are suffering.
Corona crisis: Amazon in the sights of Minister Müller - "70 billion dollars richer"
The minister suggested that billionaires
pay
into a
solidarity
fund that could be set up
at the
UN
.
But you could also directly support the global
Covax vaccination initiative
or nutritional aid in refugee camps.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos *
alone has
become more than 70 billion dollars (57 billion euros) richer in the past few months, said Müller.
The net worth of
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
has increased in part by eight billion dollars in a single day.
The minister named
Microsoft founder Bill Gates
and his wife Melinda, whose foundation is committed to health promotion, as an example of "billionaires who voluntarily use their assets for humanitarian purposes".
Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple: Minister Müller wants to get rid of giants with international taxes
The
international initiative against the coronavirus
was
currently missing
$ 28 billion for the development of
vaccines, drugs and therapies
, complained Müller.
Humanitarian aid programs such as the
United Nations World Food Program
would also have
a funding gap of five billion euros for this year alone.
However, Müller explicitly did not stop at an appeal to the goodwill of the richest people in the world.
He wants to
deal with Google, Facebook, Apple *
and Co. tougher taxes in the future.
The CSU politician spoke out in favor of a new attempt at an
internationally effective digital tax
in the new year.
Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz
had campaigned for this in the past
- albeit largely unsuccessfully.
Thank you Gerd Müller 😊 Someone, the very few who take the "C" seriously in the name of his party.
In the #Corona crisis it is said: Make the rich pay.
# Property levy now ☀️ #linke https://t.co/jx2wKsxkHq
- Lorenz Gösta Beutin (@lgbeutin) December 25, 2020
Müller's idea - unsurprisingly - met with great approval from the left-wing camp.
Left MP Lorenz Gösta Beutin praised the minister on Friday as "one of the very few who take the 'C' seriously in the name of his party." (
AFP / fn
) *
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.
