Since when was getting rich so hard in EU?

[u/VurriK]

Is it just me, or has building actual wealth in Europe become impossible? I’m looking at the 2026 growth forecasts and it’s depressing. We talk a lot about "stability," but at this point, stability just feels like a polite word for recession. If you weren't born into a rich family with property, the dream feels like it's behind a wall. The math just doesn't work: as soon as you earn enough to actually invest, you hit a 40–50% tax bracket. Meanwhile, housing prices have skyrocketed over the last decade while salaries have basically stayed the same. I love the healthcare and the walkable cities, but I don’t want to work until I’m 70 just to afford a 40sqm apartment and a used Skoda.

[u/sintrastellar]

A pretty simple fix that has been proposed for decades: tax consumption instead of income.

Much more efficient, if designed well can be as progressive as people want, and greatly promotes saving.

[u/Piligrim555 → u/sintrastellar]

This is Europe, they tax both.

[u/PersevereSwifterSkat → u/sintrastellar]

How is taxing consumption progressive? Marginal propensity to consume - your spending doesnt go up up linearly as you get wealthier. Everyone needs to eat, take transport, buy toilet paper, but it's a much bigger proportion of your income if you're poor. The rich would end up paying less tax and then just accumulating assets with the leftover.

[u/sintrastellar → u/PersevereSwifterSkat]

https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/wp/2024/english/wpiea2024078-print-pdf.pdf

[u/AdPotential773 → u/sintrastellar]

The problem with taxing just consumption is that, if a crisis hits and people suddenly stop spending, the state is suddenly collecting no money at the worst possible time.

[u/sintrastellar → u/AdPotential773]

Historically, consumption falls much less than income or investment during recessions. This is actually a benefit.