Why We Must Tax Billionaires | Gabriel Zucman on Inequality and the Wealth Tax (018)

About this episode

My guest today is Dr. Gabriel Zucman, the world's leading expert on wealth taxes. He’s a professor at both the Paris School of Economics and UC Berkeley, and he’s the author of several books, including his most recent: We Need To Tax Billionaires. We recorded this conversation during the lead up to the November 2026 elections in the US, when Californians will vote on Prop 40. If passed, it would be the first-ever tax on the net wealth of ultra-rich people in the history of the US. In this episode, Prof. Zucman explains how the ultra-wealthy in the US and Europe have managed to pay a lower effective tax rate than average citizens, and how their tax avoidance has led to massive inequality and…