Taxation of the ultra-rich: a new global wealth tax?

This Tuesday, March 14, 2023, MEP Aurore Lalucq and economist Gabriel Zucman published a column in Le Monde to propose a new tax on an international scale. Both motivate their project by the need for a fairer “ecological and social transition”.

Indeed, “since 2020, the richest 1% have captured nearly two-thirds of the wealth produced”. However, poverty has continued to increase and “the wages of nearly two billion people still fail to keep pace with inflation”.

“In 2018, Elon Musk, then the second richest man in the world, did not pay a penny in federal taxes. […] In France, a country renowned for its high level of taxation, the 370 richest families are not actually taxed only around 2% to 3%”, explain the MEP and the economist in their column.

On the strength of these overwhelming findings, more than 130 MEPs, ecologists and leftists have signed the petition in favor of the creation of a new tax likely to reduce inequalities. “Our proposal is simple: introduce a progressive tax on the wealth of the ultra-rich on an international scale.” A dozen economists and international NGOs have also joined the project.

For Aurore Lalucq and Gabriel Zucman, this new tax would take the form of a 1.5% tax on the ultra-rich as soon as their assets reach 50 million euros.

The MEP and the economist relies on the example of the minimum tax of 15% on the profits of multinationals. This had been strongly criticized and yet nearly 140 countries adhered to it. “What we have succeeded in achieving for multinationals, we must now do for the very wealthy.”

Aurore Lalucq and Gabriel Zucman call, through their petition and their forum, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Union and the UN to discuss this tax project.