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41-513: Zucman is a major proponent of the idea behind the current push for a global wealth tax on centimillionaires and richer still high-net-worth individuals . The author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens (2015), Zucman is known for his research on tax havens and corporate tax havens . Zucman's research has found that the leading corporate tax havens are all OECD –compliant, and that tax disputes between high–tax locations and havens are very rare. His papers are some of

82-674: A PhD in economics in 2013, both from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and the Paris School of Economics . His PhD dissertation, under the supervision of Thomas Piketty, explored whether the wealthy left France due to its wealth tax. The dissertation received the French Economic Association's award for best PhD dissertation in 2014. After finishing his studies, Zucman worked for

123-630: A coalition of 50 charities and other NGOs began advocating for what they labelled a Robin Hood tax , which would tax transactions of stocks, bonds and other financial securities. In 2011, the European Union (EU) proposed an EU-wide FTT; consensus, however, could not be reached among all EU countries. In 2013, 11 countries in the EU's Eurozone established the European Union financial transaction tax , estimated to generate €35 billion per year. In 2012,

164-547: A group of UN experts recommended that the United Nations adopt a FTT, estimating that the tax could bring $ 48-$ 250 billion in revenue, to be channelled to "fighting poverty, reversing growing inequality, and compensating those whose lives have been devastated by the enduring global economic crisis". In the UK, bank taxes have been proposed as another means of worldwide taxation, as have been sales taxes . Proposals to combat

205-724: A major corporate tax haven , is still materially underestimated by Orbis–database studies due to technical factors (even though these studies rank Ireland as the 5th largest global corporate Conduit OFC ). Research published by Zucman, Tørsløv and Wier in June 2018, showed that Ireland is the largest corporate tax haven in the world, even larger than the entire Caribbean corporate tax haven system. This research also showed that tax disputes between high–tax jurisdictions and corporate tax havens are extremely rare, and that tax disputes really only occur between high–tax jurisdictions. Along with James R. Hines Jr. and Dhammika Dharmapala , Gabriel Zucman

246-617: A year as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) before accepting a position as assistant professor of economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the same position at UC Berkeley, being currently on leave from LSE. Moreover, Zucman has worked as co-director of the World Wealth and Income Database (WID), a database aiming at the provision of access to extensive data series on

287-420: Is Back , Zucman and French economist Thomas Piketty investigate the evolution of aggregate wealth–to–income ratios in the top eight developed economies, reaching back as far as 1700 in the case of the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France, and find that wealth–income ratios have risen from about 200–300% in 1970 to 400–600% in 2010, levels unknown since the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the change can be explained by

328-500: Is a hypothetical system for the collection of taxes by a central international revenue service . The idea has garnered currency as a means of eliminating tax avoidance and tax competition ; it has also aroused the ire of nationalists as an infringement upon national sovereignty. Discussion of a global financial transaction tax (FTT) increased in the 2000s, especially after the late-2000s recession , and especially in Europe. In 2010,

369-556: Is a tax on all conversions of money from one currency to another, proposed by Nobel Prize-winning American economist James Tobin . According to Dr. Stephen Spratt, "the revenues raised could be used for....international development objectives...such as meeting the Millennium Development Goals ." These are eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed (in 2000) to achieve by

410-569: Is married to the French economist Claire Montialoux, whom he met in 2006. In May 2020, Zucman criticized White House Advisor Kevin Hassett 's usage of the term " human capital stock", claiming it "only makes sense in the context of slave societies". Twitter users discovered that Zucman himself used the term in his own academic work, which has since been revised. World taxation system#Global wealth tax A world taxation system or global tax

451-627: Is noted as a leader in the study of tax havens, and his papers are amongst the most cited research on tax havens. As of October 2018, Zucman ranks 1st out of "19,829 economists whose first publication of any kind is 10 or fewer years ago", on the IDEAS/RePEc St Louis Reserve database of papers by global economists. Much of Zucman's other research deals with the effect of the G20 's crackdown on tax havens and corporate tax havens, cross–border taxation and multinational profit shifting,

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492-876: The European Union Emissions Trading System to the Switzerland emissions trading system. In order not to advantage countries without a carbon price, the EU has designed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to come into effect in 2026, which will place tariffs on imported goods which have not been subjected to a carbon price. Similar discussions have been ongoing in the US and Australia among others. The OECD has proposed creating an international framework for such carbon border adjustments to avoid trade competition. Kristalina Georgieva , managing director of

533-544: The "traumatic political event of my youth", as being when Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the final rounds of the 2002 French presidential election , when Zucman was 15. In 2018, Zucman said of that event: "A lot of my political thinking since then has been focused on how we can avoid this disaster from happening again. So far, we’ve failed". From 2005 to 2010, Zucman attended the École normale supérieure de Cachan , one of France's prestigious Grandes Écoles . Hereafter, he first earned his M.Sc. in economic policy analysis in 2008 and

574-595: The 2014 success of French economist Thomas Piketty 's bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century . In the book, Piketty proposes that because the rate of return on capital tends to exceed total growth, inequality will tend to rise forever without government intervention. The solution he proposed is a global tax on capital. He imagined that the tax would be zero for those with less than 1 million euros, 2% for those with more than 5 million, and 5-10% for those with more than 1 billion euros. Piketty suggested

615-412: The 2020s, Patriotic Millionaires , a group of high net worth individuals, began calling for governments to implement wealth taxes of those with extreme wealth. In 2023, they penned an open letter to political leaders attending Davos , stating "The solution is plain for all to see. You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra rich, and you have to start now." Oxfam said a tax of up to 5% on

656-774: The Best Young Economist in France , awarded by the Cercle des économistes and Le Monde in recognition of his research on tax evasion and avoidance and their economic consequences. He was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2023, a prize for economists under the age of 40. Zucman was born in Paris in 1986, and is the son of two French doctors. His mother is an immunology researcher while his father treats HIV patients. In interviews, Zucman describes

697-570: The French general public to academic research in economics. In 2019, the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government voted to offer Zucman a tenured position in the department, but the president and provost of Harvard University blocked it. Zucman was chosen to be the founding director of the EU Tax Observatory in June 2021. In 2023, he was elected as a "professeur des universités" (tenured professor) in

738-514: The IMF, has proposed an international carbon price floor, noting that four fifths of global emissions remain unpriced. However, this only requires revenue to be collected by national governments, so it not truly a global tax. In the 2020s, there has been discussion of global carbon taxes among the international community, including the OECD , World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund . It

779-641: The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), by CORPNET in 2017. (‡) Identified as one of the largest 5 Sinks (British Virgin Islands, Luxemburg, Hong Kong, Jersey, Bermuda), by CORPNET in 2017. (Δ) Identified on the first, and the largest, OECD 2000 list of 35 tax havens (the OECD list only contained Trinidad & Tobago by 2017); only some Caribbean territories were listed by the OECD in 2000. Zucman

820-537: The President of Cuba , advocated the Tobin Tax to address that issue. (According to Cliff Kincaid , Castro advocated it "specifically in order to generate U.S. financial reparations to the rest of the world," however a closer reading of Castro's speech shows that he never did mention "the rest of the world" as being recipients of revenue.) Castro cited Holocaust reparations as a previously established precedent for

861-519: The World Shipping Council. The International Maritime Organization reached agreement in 2022 that a global carbon tax for shipping should be established. However, there is wide disagreement about the price level, with proposals ranging from $ 150 to just $ 2 per tonne of fuel. In 2023, research from CE Delft found that global shipping emissions could be cut by between a third to a half by 2030 without harming international trade. This

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902-431: The assets held by households in offshore tax havens. Based on his calculations, he finds about 8% of the global financial wealth of households, or $ 7.6 trillion, to be held in tax havens, three–quarters of which go undeclared. In 2017–18, Zucman focused on the scale of multinational tax avoidance by base erosion and profit shifting ("BEPS") tools in the largest corporate tax havens . Zucman believes Ireland, recognised as

943-579: The concept of reparations . Castro also suggested that the United Nations be the administrator of this tax, stating the following: "May the tax suggested by Nobel Prize Laureate James Tobin be imposed in a reasonable and effective way on the current speculative operations accounting for trillions of US dollars every 24 hours, then the United Nations , which cannot go on depending on meager, inadequate, and belated donations and charities, will have one trillion US dollars annually to save and develop

984-543: The department of economics at the Ecole normale supérieure and at the Paris School of Economics . Zucman is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on tax evasion, but has made contributions to the field of public economics more broadly. Much of Zucman's research is on issues of economic inequality . Zucman himself says, "a lot of my work is about trying to improve our measurement tools." In August 2014 in Capital

1025-455: The long-run recovery of asset prices, the slowdown of productivity, and population growth. Zucman has co-written several papers with Thomas Piketty . A second focus is his research on tax havens. In 2015 in his book, The Hidden Wealth of Nations , Zucman uses the systematic anomalies in international investment positions to show that the net foreign asset positions of rich countries are generally underestimated because they don't capture most of

1066-596: The long–term relationship between wealth and inheritance, and the trajectory of wealth inequality in the United States. Zucman is frequently quoted in the leading global news media. The only tax havens from the Tørsløv-Wier-Zucman list that have ever appeared on an OECD list of tax havens, are some Caribbean locations, namely The British Virgin Islands (but not the Cayman Islands ). Nine of

1107-454: The most cited papers on research into tax havens. Zucman is also known for his work on the quantification of the financial scale of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) tax avoidance techniques employed by multinationals in corporate tax havens, through which he identified Ireland as the world's largest corporate tax haven in 2018. In 2018, Zucman was the recipient of the Prize for

1148-553: The ongoing recession included the Financial stability contribution (FSC) and Financial Activities Tax (FAT) . On August 30, 2009, British Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Adair Turner said it was "ridiculous" to think he would propose a new tax on London and not the rest of the world. However, in May, and June 2010, the government of Canada expressed opposition to the bank tax becoming "global" in nature. The Tobin tax

1189-508: The poor countries. Of course, most of this money will go to the very dictators whose reckless policies have impoverished their citizens. The UN global tax plan...resurrects the long-held dream of the 'Tobin Tax'. A dangerous precedent would be set, however: the idea that the UN possesses the legitimate taxing authority to fund its operations." The idea of a global wealth tax has been much discussed since

1230-513: The proposal, including the European Union , Canada , Japan and the Pacific Islands. Research suggested that low-carbon ammonia shipping could be unlocked at a $ 150 carbon price. In the US and other countries' nationalist movements, the idea of global taxation arouses ire in its perception by such circles as a potential infringement upon national sovereignty. EU Tax Observatory Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1271-469: The public good. Conservative estimates show the tax could yield from $ 150-300 billion annually. The UN estimates that the cost of wiping out the worst forms of poverty and environmental destruction globally would be around $ 225 billion per year." At the UN September 2001 World Conference against Racism , when the issue of compensation for colonialism and slavery arose on the agenda , Fidel Castro ,

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1312-462: The revenue could provide all global citizens with an endowment when they reach the age of 25 years. It has been estimated that for the US, a tax of 2% on fortunes greater than US$ 4 million would generate US$ 500 billion per year. About half of that amount, about 300 billion per year, corresponds to the total developmental budget goal of 0.7% GNP of industrialised countries (see Millennium Development Goals ), which would enable poorer countries to cross

1353-457: The threshold of economic competitivity in 15–20 years (cf. Jeffrey Sachs: The End of Poverty ). Some 300 billion per year would also be necessary to limit global warming to +2 degrees Celsius and finance recovery from more frequent climate disasters. Expensive but probably inevitable strategies to slow global warming include renewable energy research, reducing greenhouse gas emissions , and reforestation (or preventing deforestation ). From

1394-624: The top ten locations from the Tørsløv-Wier-Zucman list, match the top ten on the James R. Hines 2010 list (assuming that Zucman's "Caribbean" is mostly two locations, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands ; Zucman lists Bermuda separately). (*) Identified as one of the largest 10 tax havens by James R. Hines Jr. in 2010 (the Hines 2010 List ). (†) Identified as one of the 5 Conduits (Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland,

1435-584: The world distribution of income and wealth, since 2015. Besides his research and teaching activities, Zucman has refereed for several economic journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics , the Review of Economic Studies , Econometrica , and the Journal of Political Economy . He also co–founded and acted as editor–in–chief for Regards croisés sur l'économie , a review aimed at exposing

1476-503: The world's multimillionaires and billionaires could raise $ 1.7tn a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty. Leading up to a 2023 finance summit in France, 100 leading economists signed a letter calling for a wealth tax on the world's richest people in order to help the poorest survive climate change. In 2024 Gabriel Zucman again proposed a push for a global wealth tax on centimillionaires and richer still high-net-worth individuals . The Kyoto Protocol of 1997, which

1517-416: The world. Given the seriousness and urgency of the existing problems, which have become a real hazard for the very survival of our species on the planet, that is what would actually be needed before it is too late." On March 6, 2006, US Congressman Dr Ron Paul stated the following: "The United Nations remains determined to rob from wealthy countries and, after taking a big cut for itself, send what's left to

1558-450: The year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty , reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS , and developing a global partnership for development. In 2000, a representative of a "pro-Tobin tax" NGO proposed the following: "In the face of increasing income disparity and social inequity, the Tobin Tax represents a rare opportunity to capture the enormous wealth of an untaxed sector and redirect it towards

1599-417: Was important since countries including China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia had expressed opposition to the tax, on the basis that it could put international trade at risk. The World Bank has estimated a shipping carbon tax could raise $ 50-60 billion per year, which some countries have proposed be donated to a "loss and damage" fund, to pay for damage caused by climate change. By 2024, 47 countries supported

1640-473: Was signed by 192 countries, included a proposal for an International Emissions Trading scheme. Subsequently, this was superseded by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement which stated the principle of international carbon trading. Consequently, some national emissions trading schemes are theoretically compatible with those of other nations whose schemes have similar standards. In 2017, the EU agreed to link

1681-557: Was suggested that a uniform global carbon tax could eliminate the need for carbon border tariffs. Some research has suggested that such a proposal could be popular if the revenue generated by the tax is paid directly to citizens, a payment known as a carbon dividend . By 2021, global industry-wide carbon taxes were supported by groups representing 90% of the shipping industry, including the International Chamber of Shipping , Bimco, Cruise Lines International Association and

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