"France has the opportunity to show the way to the rest of the world": Seven Nobel Prize winners in economics argue in favor of the Zucman tax
By The New Obs with AFP
French economist Gabriel Zucman, who initiated the bill for a minimum tax on the wealth of the ultra-rich, on June 12, 2024. JOEL SAGET/AFP
At a time when France is looking for revenue sources, seven Nobel Prize winners in economics called in a column on Monday, July 7, for the introduction of a minimum tax on the wealth of the richest in France, based on the model of the "Zucman tax," which was rejected by the Senate in June .
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With the tax on the ultra-rich, "France has the opportunity, once again, to show the way to the rest of the world," write these winners of the prestigious economic distinction in an article published by the newspaper "Le Monde." Among them are the 2024 Nobel Prize winners in economics Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson , those of 2019 Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, those of 2001 George Akerlof and Joseph Stiglitz , as well as that of 2008 Paul Krugman , most of them American nationals.
According to these internationally renowned economists, "the ultra-rich are particularly prosperous in France. The world's billionaires own assets equivalent to 14% of the planet's GDP, according to "Forbes" magazine; the French own nearly 30% of France's GDP." Taxing assets through a minimum tax expressed as a percentage "is effective because it attacks all forms of optimization, whatever their nature," these economists continue. "It is targeted because it primarily affects, among the wealthiest taxpayers, those who resort to tax optimization."
"On the contrary, we must set an example."The authors also welcome international discussions in this direction and the proposal to the G20 to establish a global minimum tax on billionaires equivalent to 2% of wealth, which was rejected last year. Despite everything, "the international movement has begun," they assert, judging that "there is no reason to wait for the finalization of an international agreement; on the contrary, we must work towards it by setting an example, as France has done in the past" with the introduction of VAT in 1954.
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