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Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

theguardian.com

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Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#31

Post by layer8 »

simonblack wrote: post #3

I think that would be a great idea. Except that I would put the age of receiving that inheritance at about 30. It's one of the ironies of life that when you are young you have time but no money, and when you are old you have money and no time. Think how great it would be if you got that money while you were still young enough to use it, and old enough to use it wisely.

The problem is, many people would just take a 10-year loan at 20 since they know they’ll receive the €20K at 30. There’ll be a whole industry springing up around that.

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#32

Post by buffington »

thegrim33 wrote: post #7
mensetmanusman wrote: post #6

Are there enough rich people in Spain to redistribute and give everyone aged 18+ €20k?

Well, if just counting all the billionaires [1], they have a total net worth of ~135 billion, and there's currently ~47MM people in Spain [2], so if you sent out the stormtroopers and forcefully confiscated every last penny of net worth from all the billionaires, and redistributed it equally, each person would get a one-time payment of ~2,800. I'd theorize that the resulting destruction to the economy/country in the…

> I'd theorize that the resulting destruction to the economy/country in the process would probably ultimately wipe more wealth from the people than 2,800 per person

I wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding on this idea more.

While I'm not saying I agree with the notion of redistributing wealth in the way you describe, I am skeptical of the "destruction" part. What does that look like to you, and why would it lead to that?

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#33

Post by throwaway92700 »

tcmart14 wrote: post #27
helpfulclippy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. There’s a lot of danger waiting for you when you grow up and leave home. Money would certainly solve some problems, but if everyone knew every 20 year old had a big check they could go get a piece of, it will cause many more problems. 30 year olds will also have the same bullseye painted on their backs, but will at least have experience.

I wonder if to address this, we could do something slightly different. There is definitely a danger here. Hang out around a military base where a bunch of young men got back from deployment and see how many of them are driving BMWs. When I was in the Navy, my junior sailors would blow all the money they made on deployment on shitty cars and strippers. Maybe instead of just cutting a $20K check, perhaps an account tha…

Please note that in Spain, healthcare is free, and so is college for the most part, just like most of Europe.

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#34

Post by admax88qqq »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #9
goodbyesf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not 20K every year? Get rid of all government programs ( welfare, healthchare, social security, etc ) and replace it with a universal yearly $20K. The only downside is that it would collapse the war machine since no 18 year old will sign up for the military.

Aren’t we currently experiencing inflation at least partially due to government stimulus handouts during Covid? I know there are multiple causes but free money certainly didn’t help. Also, I think it is a good idea to keep government programs means tested and separate. If you give people 20k, the number of people who should be feeding their kids with the money but instead bought “new rims” for their 2007 Honda Civic…

The problem is most means tested programs end up as poverty traps where people avoid making more money productively so they don't lose their welfare or disability.

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#35

Post by throwaway92700 »

germandiago wrote: post #20
simonblack wrote: post #3

I think that would be a great idea. Except that I would put the age of receiving that inheritance at about 30. It's one of the ironies of life that when you are young you have time but no money, and when you are old you have money and no time. Think how great it would be if you got that money while you were still young enough to use it, and old enough to use it wisely.

As a spanish who pays 47% PIT and a ton more taxes including 21% VAT, tax for having a property (only one!) and that I see how much money is wasted on top of a 113% official GDP debt... and I can tell you tjat to pay what I pay you do not need to make even 80,000 eur/year. Who do you propose it should pay those 20,000? This woman, who talks to people as if they were 10 yo or less, said "the rich people". Do you know…

You do not pay 47% income tax in Spain. You may pay 47% marginal income tax (only for income above 60k EUR).

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#36

Post by sublinear »

layer8 wrote: post #31
simonblack wrote: post #3

I think that would be a great idea. Except that I would put the age of receiving that inheritance at about 30. It's one of the ironies of life that when you are young you have time but no money, and when you are old you have money and no time. Think how great it would be if you got that money while you were still young enough to use it, and old enough to use it wisely.

The problem is, many people would just take a 10-year loan at 20 since they know they’ll receive the €20K at 30. There’ll be a whole industry springing up around that.

It's almost like stimulus doesn't really work.

Re: Spanish minister proposes €20k ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

#39

Post by avgcorrection »

bsaul wrote: post #21
pkaye wrote: post #10

I think its election season in Spain.

i wonder how those kinds of proposals are even legal. It's litteraly the equivalent of buying votes.

We should be so lucky. But then most of those promises would be frauds since they are most of the time not followed up on once the politician is in power.
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