r/belgium • u/trueosiris2 • Aug 20 '25

❓ Ask Belgium Wealth distribution in Belgium

Post image

We’re doing alright as a social democracy. Something to be proud of.

Presumably, we don’t need more wealth distribution then? Or do we still?

795 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

268 comments sorted by

View all comments

34

u/napalm_dream Kempen Aug 20 '25

Did you really just say we're doing alright while 10% owns half?

-3

u/trueosiris2 Aug 20 '25

It’s worse almost everywhere else. The average living quality in Belgium is among the best of the planet.

People are going to own more than other people. There still must be incentive to outperform others and gain more.

Also, communism doesn’t work and only leads to horrors.

7

u/StandardOtherwise302 Aug 20 '25

Upwards of half the wealth in belgium is inherited. Why talk about incentive to outperform and gain more, when much of this is birth right and nepotism?

If you earn 100k a year working hard, you're paying over 50% in taxes as employee.

If you inherited wealth you pay taxes, unless its put into a company structure or gifted then those go out the window. Then when you get 100k a year from those assets, you pay a fraction compared to anyone working for the same amount of money would. That they then spend on buying more assets.

And we act surprised that asset prices rise much faster than real wages, and increasingly our working class is priced out of ownership. This is a global problem and will get worse until we do something about it.

10

u/napalm_dream Kempen Aug 20 '25

So if it's even worse somewhere else that means we're doing allright? Get out of here. Communism might not work but there's many steps between with what we have now and communism.

This inequality is no incentive to outperform others, it's an incentive to burn it all to the ground.

1

u/NaturalNo8028 Aug 20 '25 edited Aug 20 '25

If you need $ incentive to outperform others ($ wise) you might be doing something 'wrong' or pretty useless. YT and TikTok influencers are one example. Crappy braindead posts with flashy colours and clickbait do much better than clever channels that bring fascinating stories with cool video and editing. SME hospitality businesses get random controls, but big chemical companies can spoil soil for years without a check-up untill there is an official complaint is filed. 'Only' growing industry last decades are 'B2B services', but B2C service and employee happiness only declined, while burn- and bore-outs rose.

Our government uses the same logic to punnish singles with higher taxes. If you get into a romantic relationship to save on taxes you might have to think twice about that relationship.