Taxes rise up to a certain level of wealth, but beyond a certain point they actually start to fall again, says Zucman, in what he describes as a major injustice. It is easy for the super rich to find ways to avoid paying taxes. This is a structural problem, rather than about individual behaviours. In some ways, the situation in the EU is even worse than in the US. His key demand is for a binding minimum tax on extreme wealth. Zucman says a minimum tax rate of around 2% of wealth for very high net worth individuals would be enough to prevent the super rich from paying proportionally less tax than the middle classes. -nk

Katrin Rulle

Gabriel Zucman, of the Paris School of Economics, begins his keynote speech with a stark assessment: over the last ten years, billionaires’ wealth has grown exponentially. Today, the top 0.00001% of billionaires own up to 17% of global GDP. This extreme concentration enables the wealthy to buy media outlets, influence markets and exert political influence, in what is a clear threat to democracy, he says. Zucman shares charts that show how the tax system often has a regressive effect, with middle classes bearing a relatively high tax burden, while billionaires have the lowest effective tax rates. He calls for structural reforms, not just criticism of individuals. -nk

Katrin Rulle

Now, as the afternoon draws on, the session on inequality, democracy and distributive justice is focusing on what a fairer and more inclusive society might look like. Together with Spanish think tank Avanza, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung is calling for policy responses to growing wealth inequality, such as through progressive tax policy that makes the super-rich more accountable. At the heart of this is the firm conviction that social balance is closely connected to democratic stability. -fw

Katrin Rulle