TaxPayers' Association of Europe - Germany

We must not allow politicians to use this Financial Crisis to increase their power and our taxes

The worldwide financial crisis is preceding apace. European citizens are looking to their politicians to act. The EU Rescue Package shows how EU politicians are seeking to resolve this crisis. Unfortunately, this crisis is also providing opportunities for what Friedrich von Hayek referred to as, "the socialists of all parties" to misuse this financial crisis to their own ends.

Politicians – not only on the left wing – are demanding more state control, full/partial nationalisation of the banks and even partial nationalisation of some industrial concerns. This is the wrong answer.

It was not the market which failed. It was the system of state control and the internal bank control which failed. I do not know the exact conditions in other countries, but in Germany it is the state owned banks f. ex., the Bavarian Landesbank and others which have the biggest financial problems.

We need a better internal and external controlling system and hard and fast liability law. State ownership is not the right answer. Furthermore, we as a taxpayers’ watchdog have to take care. Under no circumstances should we allow the Rescue Package to be used as an argument for increasing taxes or increasing debts. Before governments increase taxes or debts they should save money on the budget. There are many possibilities to reduce public spending. We do not need to increase taxes today or the public debt, which can only mean higher taxes tomorrow.

European taxpayers should not be used as a cash cow to pay our way out of this crisis!

EU taxpayers pay €100,000 for Danish ski slope in area with no mountains or snow

A Danish businessman built a ski slope in Denmark,on an island where snow rarely falls and there are no high hills. Crazy enough, but he asked for EU taxpayer grants and he got them.

Ole Harild, a Danish businessman, managed to obtain €100,000 in taxpayer funded EU subsidies by building a ski slope on Bornholm island in the Baltic Sea. He said “I had never thought that the EU experts would have been ready to support such a mad project. When it was surprisingly granted, there was no reason not to go on with it.”

The island is well known for its sunny climate and mild winters, enjoying very low rates of snowfall and lacking any mountains with only a couple of hills. Mr. Harild has used the money to buy a snow machine, 80 pairs of ski’s and ski shoes, in order to rent them out.

However the slope could only be used once last winter. This example shows how our European taxpayers’ money is being wasted! That’s why the Taxpayers Association of Europe is demanding substantial reforms of the EU Subsidy system.