Die „Choreografie der Diskussion“ verlaufe immer nach dem gleichen Muster, sagt Julia Friedrichs, resigniert lächelnd. Die Journalistin hat ein Buch über die „geheime Welt der Superreichen“ geschrieben, vielleicht hätten es die Diskussionsteilnehmer zur Vorbereitung besser mal aufmerksam gelesen. Stattdessen blieben Friedrichs’ Ausführungen zu den „dynastischen“ und „verkrusteten“ Strukturen des Reichtums in Deutschland ohne Resonanz. „Wir schaffen es, an den großen Vermögen vorbeizudiskutieren“ und die Besteuerung von Arbeitnehmern zu debattieren, wo sich doch das Geld der richtig Reichen ganz von selbst und „wie blöde“ vermehre.
Dieses Vorbeidiskutieren beherrscht FDP-Vize Johannes Vogel ganz ausgezeichnet. Wenn es um die Besteuerung passiven Vermögens geht, spielt er die Leistung-muss-sich-lohnen-Leier, schwärmt von fleißigen Mittelständlern, die sich im Schweiße ihres Angesichts zu Selfmade-Millionären mausern und schimpft: „Eigentumsrecht ist ein Grundrecht, keine Verfügungsmasse für linke Politiker.“ Den Pflichtteil unterschlägt Vogel. Im Grundgesetz, Artikel 14, heißt es: „Eigentum verpflichtet. Sein Gebrauch soll zugleich dem Wohle der Allgemeinheit dienen.
Trigema-Gründer Grupp würde sich „schämen“
Werden die Reichen ihrer Verantwortung gerecht, tun sie genug für unser Land, können wir uns als Gesellschaft „die Reichen noch leisten“? Darum geht es in der jüngsten Ausgabe von „hart aber fair“, wobei zunächst zu klären ist, wer „die Reichen“ überhaupt sind. Sind es die wohlhabendsten zehn Prozent, denen laut Sendungsankündigung rund zwei Drittel des gesamten Vermögens gehört? Oder geht es nur um die – nach Schätzungen des „Manager Magazins“ – 226 Milliardäre in Deutschland, die der Linkenpolitiker Jan van Aken, der bald Parteichef sein könnte, am liebsten ganz „abschaffen“ will, weil so viel Reichtum einfach „unanständig“ sei?
Two men who, according to popular imagination, can be described as “rich” are invited to the panel discussion with Louis Klamroth. To Van Aken’s left sits the real estate entrepreneur and multimillionaire Josef Rick, who wants to make himself and all other well-heeled people more accountable and rails against his own privileges when he’s not flirting with his own tax tricks. This time he doesn’t have his tax assessment from the D-Mark era with him, but on other high-profile occasions he has already demonstrated how to take advantage of completely legal loopholes. He’s just “someone who doesn’t like paying taxes” and God knows he’s not the “Mother Teresa of business,” but the state should actually know better how to stop this. He calls it “feudalism” that it is left to the rich to decide whether they want to pay taxes or not. FDP man Vogel was just waiting for this: “If you want to pay more taxes, I will give you the tax office’s account number immediately after the shipment.”
To Vogel’s right sits the second millionaire in the group, the textile entrepreneur Wolfgang Grupp. He shows full understanding when “a taxpayer takes advantage of what he is entitled to,” meaning the legal loopholes. “He would be stupid if he didn’t use it.” On the other hand, he himself has always paid all the taxes due in Germany and would be “ashamed” if he had to admit that he had “moved the company somewhere for tax reasons.”
Mr. Klamroth, are you jealous of the gang boss?
The Trigema founder, who has now passed the business on to his children, is known for his pithy words and does not disappoint this time either. The mail order companies Quelle and Klingel, the Signa founder René Benko, all went bankrupt, but were still allowed to keep their money and “feed the others the bill”. In principle, Grupp does not challenge the unequal distribution of wealth in Germany (“I can’t change it anyway”) as long as the wealthy also assume “full liability” for their business, because with great wealth comes great responsibility, especially for employees. And when are you rich? “The rich person is someone who is happy with what they have,” says Grupp, whose fortune is estimated at at least 100 million euros.
The fronts are thus marked. On the one hand, Grupp and Vogel are fighting for the rights of the rich and against a wealth tax, with the FDP deputy unerringly showering the Trigema founder with hymns of praise, as if the discussion was only about the German entrepreneurial version of the American Dream and not about the rich Heirs who let their money work for them. The rich lobby is supported by Nadine Metgenberg, event planner for luxury weddings, who complains about a “envy debate in Germany”. In international comparison, their customers are “rather modest” and also “super normal people”; after all, “there is no one who wants gold-plated beef fillet for every main course.”
On the other hand, it is the tax-tricking multimillionaire Rick, of all people, who stands up to the FDP man (“Please don’t always push the master baker with 30 employees”), supported by the book author Friedrichs and the leftist Van Aken, who is somewhat bothered by it Having “heard the word hard work too often”. BMW heiress Susanne Klatten earned 1.1 million euros last year – per hour. This “non-performance income” has “nothing to do with hard work anymore.” Klatten “didn’t earn” the money, but took it from other people because she paid wages that were too low, rents that were too high and paid too few taxes. It has nothing to do with “envy,” says Van Aken and involves the moderator: Let’s assume your home is broken into, Mr. Klamroth, are you jealous of the “gangster boss”? “Nah, you’re mad, you want that back.”
Klamroth doesn’t seem really angry, but rather helpless in the face of the unworthy spectacle in which the discussants become more and more comfortable with their intended roles with every minute. FDP Vice President Vogel in particular uses targeted smokescreens – lower taxes for everyone, economic growth above all else – to ensure that the elephant in the room is lost sight of. “Can we still afford the rich” if hard work is no longer enough to build houses? How much social explosive is there if we can’t do it? “Our history of wealth is currently being written by heirs,” says Friedrichs, who warns of the increasing “concentration of wealth”. “At some point, what we tell ourselves about our country comes into conflict,” that every vote is worth the same and everyone can “do something with their life.”
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich has announced that he will make reintroducing the wealth tax a campaign issue. “Will this be a justice election campaign?” asks Klamroth, and you involuntarily smile at the memory of the “Schulz train”. Again? Friedrichs doesn’t believe it this time either. “When the SPD and the Greens propose wealth taxes, then you know the next election campaign is coming.” Such issues then no longer played a role in the coalition negotiations. “I can cope better with the FDP’s honest rejection.”
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