How German Members Of Parliament Debate Wealth Taxation On Social Media

In a new preprint, Sami Nenno together with Philipp Lorenz-Spreen use LLMs to detect arguments for or against wealth taxation by German members of parliament (MPs) and the business lobby. They analyze their social media communication from 2017 to 2025 on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

The study finds that wealth taxation is not among the policy issues most emphasized by MPs on social media. Although attention to the topic occasionally spikes, it never approaches the frequency of other reference issues like unemployment benefits or the nuclear phase-out. Left-wing parties rarely counter opposing arguments, present relatively uniform positions, and primarily justify stricter taxation by invoking rising inequality, injustice, and the responsibility of the wealthy. Conservatives emphasize the supposed threat of losing inherited homes due to higher taxes, while liberals and the far right focus more on economic arguments and often criticize state intervention. On the audience’s side, wealth taxation, though infrequently discussed, generates high engagement compared to other issues – especially when stricter taxation is the central message rather than a passing mention. Finally, left-wing parties seldom provide concrete data on inequality or tax exemptions, even though such evidence could strengthen persuasion. The authors conclude that in advocating stricter wealth taxation, left-wing parties likely fail to reach beyond their core electorate.

Find the full preprint here: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/xn2bu_v1