Der Kommissar wants his "demographic reserve" tax

Sydney Morning Herald: "Germany set to tax young."

Germany is proposing to levy extra taxes on the young to pay for the costs of the country's growing numbers of old people, under government plans for a ''demographic reserve'' levy.
Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have drafted proposals that, if law, would require all those over 25 to pay a proportion of their income to cushion Germany against a looming population crisis.

There's a very, very predictable cause to this problem:

Because of a slump in Germany's population, as more ageing Germans retire there are fewer young workers to replace them as taxpayers to fund generous welfare and pension arrangements.

To which I say: "Willkommen in Amerika!" young, productive, overtaxed Germans.