Contemplating the Eurozone crisis: are European citizens willing to pay for a European solidarity tax? Evidence from Germany and Portugal

Abstract

This paper analyses the willingness of individual citizens to show solidarity in the context of the Eurozone crisis. Taking a cost-sensitive approach to solidarity, we assessed the extent to which citizens would be willing to personally contribute to a bailout fund, and examined the sociodemographic and attitudinal causes for this willingness. We conducted a survey during the 2012 sovereign debt crisis in Germany and Portugal, two Eurozone countries representing a strong economy and a net recipient of loans respectively. As a part of this survey, we used a scenario in which respondents were asked whether they would be willing to pay a European solidarity tax at varying rates. Descriptive findings reveal that 48% of the Germans and 56% of the Portuguese accepted at least one of three tax rates proposed. Multivariate analyses reveal that a willingness to pay is mainly formed by political attitudes and cosmopolitan beliefs, and not by the socio-economic characteristics of respondents. The overall likelihood of emerging social cleavages is rather weak, meaning these findings may encourage European Union actors to internally foster the idea of a socially and financially integrated Europe in the future.