Tesco
Game-Changers and Whistle-Blowers
Article

Game-Changers and Whistle-Blowers

Taxing Wealth

James Brumby and Michael Keen
IMF, 2018
Read the article

Read or listen offline

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Overview

Recommendation

Although income inequality has received a lot of attention lately, wealth inequality gets less notice. Economist Thomas Piketty, in his best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, had even proposed a global wealth tax to tackle the problem, an idea that came to naught. The IMF’s James Brumby and Michael Keen provide an incisive look at ways in which governments could use their tax policies to target wealth inequality. getAbstract recommends this provocative report to policy experts, wealth managers, tax professionals and others with an interest in tax policy.

Take-Aways

  • While many have voiced concerns about growing levels of income inequality, the distribution of wealth is even more skewed than the allocation of income.
  • One estimate calculates the amount of offshore wealth held in low-tax havens as equal to about 10% of global output, of which about 75% remains unknown to authorities.
  • One way to tackle wealth inequality is by appealing to the better nature of wealthy people, some of whom would respond if they were to see the benefits to society.

About the Authors

James Brumby is a director in the IMF’s governance global practice, and Michael Keen is a deputy director in the fiscal affairs department of the IMF.

Comment on this summary or Начать обсуждение