Berlin - A group of 23 wealthy Germans caused a stir Tuesday by demanding that rich people should pay higher taxes to counter the economic crisis.

People with a combined wealth of more than 500,000 euros (674,000 dollars) should contribute an additional 5 per cent annually for the next two years, said members of the initiative started by 31-year-old company heir Bruno Haas.

After a two-year period, the group said they would want the scheme to be replaced with a tax on wealth. The money should fund environmental projects, education, health and so-called Hartz IV welfare benefits, the signatories said.

"We are not naive crackpots," said Dieter Lemkuhl, a member of the initiative who also inherited his wealth. The trained psychiatrist said it injured his sense of justice that those people paying for the crisis had not caused or profited from it.

"I don't want to live in a society that polarises rich and poor," Lemkuhl added.

The scheme could boost state coffers by at least 50 billion euros, estimated Bernhard Seidel, a previous member of the German Institute for Economic Research.

The suggestion gave an unexpected boost to the policies of the Left Party, trade unions, the Greens and parts of the Social Democrats
(SPD), who all support a redistribution of wealth.

Haas said wealth brought responsibility, adding, "We have more than we need to live." The group includes doctors, teachers and people of independent means. However, the 23 members lacked celebrity representation.

It remains to be seen whether the campaign will generate any political resonance. A similar initiative launched in 2005 had little lasting impact.