Brussels Prepares a Hate-the-Rich Tax Package
5th May 2026
Sometimes, I wonder if politicians who consistently make the wrong decisions do so on purpose. After reading the European Commission’s new report (published in April), “Wealth Taxation, Including Net Wealth, Capital and Exit Taxes,” I am once again tempted to suggest willful ignorance.
The report favors a slew of new taxes on Europe’s richest: a tax on capital gains, both realized and unrealized; a broad-based, ‘avoidance proof’ tax on inheritance and gifts; and a tax on capital migration. If matched with heavy taxation on equity-based income, these hate-the-rich taxes would work as a confiscatory machine, vacuuming Europe clean of anything that resembles economic success.