The richest 1% in the Netherlands pay relatively less tax than everyone else and their incomes have risen more sharply, according to new calculations by the government’s macro-economic forecasting agency CPB. Earlier research, based on figures from 2016, showed that people on the highest incomes pay less tax and the new figures, based on the period 2011 to 2019, paint a similar picture. The very richest, or 0.01% of the population, paid a tax rate of some 28%, well below the 40% paid by people with average incomes...
The shift in power from concentrated wealth has been happening for a long time. After the plagues of the 13th century there was a shortage of skilled labour which tipped the balance of power towards common people. This trend has continued despite the tendency towards concentration of wealth. Contemporary examples of this phenomena are the rise of tech workers and open source tools. The pushback from the wealthy class takes the form of closed and proprietary systems, such as Apple products. Whatever we can do as individuals to create open platforms such as Lemmy, Wikipedia and Linux are the way forward.
The shift in power from concentrated wealth has been happening for a long time. After the plagues of the 13th century there was a shortage of skilled labour which tipped the balance of power towards common people. This trend has continued despite the tendency towards concentration of wealth. Contemporary examples of this phenomena are the rise of tech workers and open source tools. The pushback from the wealthy class takes the form of closed and proprietary systems, such as Apple products. Whatever we can do as individuals to create open platforms such as Lemmy, Wikipedia and Linux are the way forward.