Billionaires should pay their fair share
In the media image: Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
The popular French economist Gabriel Zucman visited the Netherlands last week, advocating an extra tax for billionaires. Egbert Jongen, Professor of Economics, spoke about the economist's proposals on NPO Radio 1's programme ‘De Rode Draad’.
Gabriel Zucman was greeted like a rock star in the Netherlands last week. He spoke in the House of Representatives, gave interviews to major news outlets, and was a guest at various universities. His proposal to tackle inequality is simple: tax the richest. According to Zucman, billionaires pay far too little or almost zero tax. As an example, he often refers to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who managed to keep his taxable income so low through all kinds of tax constructions that he was even eligible for government support for poor families.
'In the Netherlands, billionaires pay around 20 percent of their income in taxes,' says the professor. 'So that's not zero, but it’s considerably less than those on high and middle incomes pay.' Jongen explains that this is because billionaires derive a large part of their income from assets, which are taxed less severely than wages. 'Not only that, they often have private limited companies that distribute profits at a lower rate or even tax-free,' he explains. 'As a result, they end up paying relatively far less tax than employees on a regular salary.'
Zucman is often accused of being too activist because of his attitude towards the very richest. Jongen emphasises that Zucman's ideas are not politically motivated: 'It’s not his intention to disadvantage the rich – he just wants them to contribute more equally, like ordinary citizens.'
More information?
Listen to the full radio broadcast of De Rode Draad (in Dutch)