Gabriel Zucman
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
There are two ways to look at that experience.
You can say, well, we've tried in the past.
It didn't work.
Hence, it will never work.
End of story.
We can't do anything.
We have to accept that the super rich live in their own parallel society, tax-free.
There's not much that we can do.
It's one way to look at it.
The other way is to say, OK, let's try to learn about history.
Let's try to learn about the mistakes that were made.
and draw lessons and see if there are solutions.
And there are solutions.
And so the two key ingredients you need to make a tax based on wealth for the super rich work well in practice are the following.
Number one, you need to make sure that there is no way to avoid the tax.
And tax avoidance, it's not a law of nature, it's manmade.
It's when lawmakers introduce in the law exemptions or deductions.
And all the wealth taxes that existed in Europe, they were written in that way.
Like France, it's totally crazy.
It's a story I tell in the book.