Denmark is stealing the belongings of refugees through new law.

This is already the law for Danish nationals. They are simply treating refugees the same way they treat their own people - you could say that not doing so would be discriminatory in fact.

Taxation is taking from people who are citizens of your country, not those who are not.

It's essentially theft.

I think it's a way to deter refugees. I imagine there's a lot of pressure to take refugees seeing as the whole of Europe is being pressured to do so, and with Sweden next door this is more pressing. But refugees who want to get into Denmark may think twice knowing they have to give up their stuff and so will stay in Sweden instead (I presume).

They can hardly be seen as 'lesser' by virtue of having to meet the same condition for state assistance as Danish citizens.

Danish MPs have passed a law that will allow the confiscation of refugees' valuables to help pay for their stay.

The controversial legislation also delays some families being reunified for up to 3 years but has been condemned by the United Nations and other human rights organisations.

It follows similar moves by politicians in Switzerland and southern Germany, meaning police will have licence to search asylum-seekers on arrival in the country with the power to confiscate any non-essential items worth more than 10,000 Danish kroner (around £1,000) so long as they have no sentimental value.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016...ushpmg00000067

This article makes me sick. Europe has lots anything that resembles humanity....

Taxation is taking from people who are citizens of your country, not those who are not.

It's essentially theft.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I've argued this quite extensively ITT. I don't think the argument that 'migrants should not receive more favourable treatment than citizens' requires one to accept that migrants are citizens. Indeed I'd say it assumes the opposite.

Taxation is taking from people who are citizens of your country, not those who are not.

It's essentially theft.

My mother came over here from Germany in the '80s. She was a wealthy heir to an oil pipeline fortune. She did not become a citizen of the U.K. Presumably she shouldn't have ever paid any tax here, ever? I mean, she was benefitting from living in the UK hugely but as she never became a citizen, she was, in your view, not liable to pay tax.

Oh boy. I didnt realize you didnt have to pay tax in a country if you aren't a citizen!

It seems my statement was incorrect. Thank you for pointing that out.

I think this is correct.

While this scheme to the uninformed does paint some distasteful images, let's be honest, the state takes stuff from it's own citizens all the time. Tax is basically legalized theft (albeit justified on the grounds of providing essential services in return).

If they were taking their few possessions and shaking them down and all that it'd be one thing, but this scheme sounds like it's about simple monetary values. They state sentimental items are exempt. They're still taking refugees regardless.

This seems little different than sending the bailiffs around to nick the stuff out your home.
Yeah its **** and I personally have never felt right about that sort of conduct (even if it's for repossession or to cover debt), but while it can feel like legalized thuggery, I'm not sure I'm ready yet to lazily look at it as the same as the nazis taking the gold from Jew's teeth before marching them into the gas chambers, since that was the exact opposite of looking after refugees.

As a means of discouraging migrants who are shopping around for the nicest European country to burden I think it could work. At the least considering what the effects of sudden and huge increase in migrants in other countries have been, I can't blame Denmark for wanting to discourage them.