Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
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a global level, a recent Oxfam report estimates that the richest 1 percent now “own more wealth than 95 percent of humanity.” This extreme inequality is corrosive, damaging economies, societies, and democracy.
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Investment in infrastructure like public transit boosts growth, productivity, and incomes. Investment in affordable housing, which eases housing shortages and contributes to lower rents, is not only good for renters but also for businesses that struggle to recruit workers who can’t find affordable homes close to work.
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higher inequality worsens a wide range of health and social outcomes, including life expectancy, infant mortality, rates of mental illness, and social trust.
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Extreme inequality is also corrosive to democracy, with a growing body of political science research showing that income and wealth concentration has a distorting influence on politics and policy outcomes.
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a well-designed wealth tax must have a comprehensive base, applying to all types of assets equally (rather than exempting certain types of assets such as real estate, which would make tax avoidance by shifting between asset classes easy and likely).
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Second, a wealth tax should be narrowly targeted on the superrich, excluding upper-middle-class households that may find it more onerous to make payments if their largest assets are illiquid.
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Third, an effective wealth tax must make use of extensive third-party reporting of assets particularly from financial institutions, rather than relying too heavily on self-reporting as in the case of some older wealth taxes.