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03.05.2017, 09:45
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | According to Swiss newspapers today Alice Weidel a leading AfD candidate in the German elections currently lives in Biel for "tax reasons". Source
So much for "Mut zu Deutschland.". | | | | | Nonsense.
Her tax residence is unknown. Apparently it's her OH's address.
Who'd have thought the leader of a far-right party can be publicly gay and nobody would bat an eye. This would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, perhaps as little as 10.
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03.05.2017, 09:49
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Nonsense.
Her tax residence is unknown. Apparently it's her OH's address.
. | | | | | Yeah, but it doesn't make it any better...not in my books at least.
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03.05.2017, 10:03
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Yeah, but it doesn't make it any better...not in my books at least. | | | | | Which part?
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03.05.2017, 10:07
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Schulz effect has well and truly worn off. Get ready for the coronation.
Germans are masochistically obedient people. | | | | | The SPD had a once in a lifetime opportunity to take down Merkel. And what did they do?
Yeah, masochistic is the word.
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03.05.2017, 10:07
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Which part? | | | | | Obviously the one in which it's her OH who uses this address for tax purpose.
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03.05.2017, 10:11
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel?
That's pure speculation.
Her OH is Swiss, the children are hers. It's understandable she (presumably) doesn't want to uproot them.
I've had two residences for years and years, one in Zürich the other by the Lake of Contance. Just as the tax guy is quoted on Weidel, my tax situation was perfectly clear:
I never paid one single Rappen income tax in Zürich, neither before nor after taking a 2nd residence there. Likewise may welll apply to Weidel.
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03.05.2017, 10:39
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | That's pure speculation.
Her OH is Swiss, the children are hers. It's understandable she (presumably) doesn't want to uproot them.
I've had two residences for years and years, one in Zürich the other by the Lake of Contance. Just as the tax guy is quoted on Weidel, my tax situation was perfectly clear:
I never paid one single Rappen income tax in Zürich, neither before nor after taking a 2nd residence there. Likewise may welll apply to Weidel. | | | | | AfD-Spitzenkandidatin zahlt Steuern in der Schweiz Source (German language)
According to this article she does pay tax in Switzerland!
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03.05.2017, 10:55
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | AfD-Spitzenkandidatin zahlt Steuern in der Schweiz Source (German language)
According to this article she does pay tax in Switzerland! | | | | | Surely this just underlines that Germany has a tax problem.
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03.05.2017, 11:39
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | The SPD had a once in a lifetime opportunity to take down Merkel. And what did they do?
Yeah, masochistic is the word. | | | | | Post-Hitler guilt syndrom. While spending their kid's cash on their clean conscience. Ugh.
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03.05.2017, 11:42
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Post-Hitler guilt syndrom. While spending their kid's cash on their clean conscience. Ugh. | | | | | In fairness it's quite a phenemonon - no other case I am aware of where a country is reminded of its genocidal shame so frequently or so aggressively. Compare it to Mongolia , Rwanda , Zimbabwe or the Balkan countries...
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03.05.2017, 11:53
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | In fairness it's quite a phenemonon - no other case I am aware of where a country is reminded of its genocidal shame so frequently or so aggressively. Compare it to Mongolia , Rwanda , Zimbabwe or the Balkan countries... | | | | | I think it is rubbed in because this noble gesture might cost a lot for people who aren't even given a voice to disagree. Merkel might be the reason EU won't survive: Central Europe is already pacting together to oppose. I used to agree with policies she represented a few years back until it was obvious how strong the manipulation with info (justifying Merkel's idealistic ideas) was. The countries surrounding Germany will probably seal their borders, won't let Merkel offload quietly in their territories. The world does nothing for Ukraine, while Merkel is like a confused Jane of Arc, building her messianic career on alleviating the world guilt over the Middle East. I am pessimistic.
__________________ "L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi “The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman "Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein
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03.05.2017, 12:00
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Surely this just underlines that Germany has a tax problem. | | | | | Sure but a senior member of a far right German party with Trump like slogans like "make Germany great again" weakens her case if she lives in another country and pays her taxes there.
How seriously would we take Blocher's views here if he moved to Monaco?
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03.05.2017, 12:03
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | In fairness it's quite a phenemonon - no other case I am aware of where a country is reminded of its genocidal shame so frequently or so aggressively. Compare it to Mongolia , Rwanda , Zimbabwe or the Balkan countries... | | | | | I'm all for people being aware of the horrors of history. And indeed for a long time the Germans have been exemplary in dealing with that.
But when the guilt of history is being used to brainwash people and to further idiotic and destructive policies, it's time to be asking tough questions rather than nodding along sheepishly. The Germans have sadly lost the will and ability to collectively stick the spanner in the works.
For example Germany has throughout most of the postwar period been a driving force in bringing European nations together. Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl did excellent work here, talking to other countries, lisening to them, and seeking to reconcile their different views and interests. Today's German government is ready to sacrifice the fruits of its predecessors and throw out that cohersion in order to make some rather obscure point.
And nobody in Germany seems to think that is a problem.
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03.05.2017, 12:07
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Sure but a senior member of a far right German party with Trump like slogans like "make Germany great again" weakens her case if she lives in another country and pays her taxes there.
How seriously would we take Blocher's views here if he moved to Monaco? | | | | | If Blocher were to pay his taxes in Monaco and say Switzerland has a tax problem, I think that would add to his credibility, not remove from it. It would help people understand that a more friendly tax regime would bring home so much money.
We often hear that in job interviews, being able to look out for your own money is a positive as it implies you will also look out for the company's money. Why should politicians be any different?
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03.05.2017, 12:15
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | In fairness it's quite a phenemonon - no other case I am aware of where a country is reminded of its genocidal shame so frequently or so aggressively. Compare it to Mongolia , Rwanda , Zimbabwe or the Balkan countries... | | | | | Lol. Spot on. Some countries do have it harder than others.
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03.05.2017, 12:20
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | If Blocher were to pay his taxes in Monaco and say Switzerland has a tax problem, I think that would add to his credibility, not remove from it. It would help people understand that a more friendly tax regime would bring home so much money.
We often hear that in job interviews, being able to look out for your own money is a positive as it implies you will also look out for the company's money. Why should politicians be any different? | | | | | No taxes in Monaco | The following 2 users would like to thank curley for this useful post: | | 
03.05.2017, 12:35
| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel?
The liberal pendulum has swung as far as it can go and is now deaf to reason.. how can she not hear what European countries are saying?
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04.05.2017, 11:53
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | AfD-Spitzenkandidatin zahlt Steuern in der Schweiz Source (German language)
According to this article she does pay tax in Switzerland! | | | | | Registering does not automatically establish a duty to pay income tax, provided you have at least two places of residence and you already pay them someplace else.
Weidel herself says the center of her life is still Überlingen. Whether that's true or not is secondary as long as the authorities accept it; whether they do is not public knowledge.
This is exactly the same situation I was in for about 15 years, and I didn't pay a single Rappen income tax in Zürich.
Btw the tax register in Kanton Bern is public, anybody who demonstrates a financial interest can request an excerpt. It should be trivial for a newspaper to fabricate a situation they can claim some financial interest on. Had they done that they wouldn't need to interpret the statement of a Beamte who's bound to confidentiality.
Why does Tagesanzeiger say "Steuerfrage ist ungeklärt"? Don't you think Swiss newspapers know more about the local tax system than Germans?
The headline by Die Zeit is pure speculation. Sensationalism at its best.
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07.05.2017, 17:29
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | I think it is rubbed in because this noble gesture might cost a lot for people who aren't even given a voice to disagree. Merkel might be the reason EU won't survive: Central Europe is already pacting together to oppose. I used to agree with policies she represented a few years back until it was obvious how strong the manipulation with info (justifying Merkel's idealistic ideas) was. The countries surrounding Germany will probably seal their borders, won't let Merkel offload quietly in their territories. The world does nothing for Ukraine, while Merkel is like a confused Jane of Arc, building her messianic career on alleviating the world guilt over the Middle East. I am pessimistic. | | | | | Frankly, I have mixed feeling about the whole affair. For me it's quite the opposite: I really doubted the whole refugee hype, as much as I usually doubt a lot of things that are clearly a massive manipulation. But I think people still need time to correctly asses this situation.
I doubt though that this could be the cause of EU's disintegration. What can lead to EU's disintegration is the lack of adequate economic and social policies (and I definitely don't mean welfare state neither useless and totally random, identity politics based on an even more arbitrary ideology of political correctness), double standards and lack of cooperation between countries that are supposed to be partners in the first place.
But well, we will see. We have France's presidential elections to worry about today.
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07.05.2017, 20:25
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| | Re: Do you believe in Merkel? | Quote: | |  | | | Frankly, I have mixed feeling about the whole affair. For me it's quite the opposite: I really doubted the whole refugee hype, as much as I usually doubt a lot of things that are clearly a massive manipulation. But I think people still need time to correctly asses this situation.
I doubt though that this could be the cause of EU's disintegration. What can lead to EU's disintegration is the lack of adequate economic and social policies (and I definitely don't mean welfare state neither useless and totally random, identity politics based on an even more arbitrary ideology of political correctness), double standards and lack of cooperation between countries that are supposed to be partners in the first place.
But well, we will see. We have France's presidential elections to worry about today. | | | | | Merkel will come away thinking she personally won the French election, and will see this as a vindication of her polcies. With the SPD headed by a clown, she will have an easy job similarly winning the election at home. She will interpret all this to mean she is doing everything right.The urgently needed correction or self-reflection won't take place. Meanwhile things will get worse.
I don't actually thing the Eastern European countries genuinely form a common front. They may have overlapping interests and points of view but there are also important differences bewteen them. There isn't a monoloithic Easter European bloc within the EU. Which is a pity as if they did all get together they might form a counter-pole to Germany. As they are now, they can't and won't.
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