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Inequality, wealth taxes — and who needs billionaires anyway?

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Super-taxing the super-wealthy does not work (the rascals just tend to move), just ask France, writes Noah Smith

14 November 2019 - 16:22In recent years, several prominent economists have brought attention to the problem of growing inequality. These scholars include Thomas Piketty, author of the best-selling book, and Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, who, in a new book, chronicle the rise in American wealth inequality.

One way to predict the possible effects of the taxes is to look at a country that tried something similar: France, from which Piketty, Saez and Zucman all hail. The super-tax raised much less money than even the wealth tax had — only €160m in 2014. The unpopular tax was repealed two years after its adoption

But there’s probably a limit to how much even France can do in this regard. The country has experimented with both wealth taxes and very high, top income taxes, with disappointing results.

 

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