Some economists have called for a radical ‘global wealth tax’ on billionaires. How would that work?

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:17:54 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/some-economists-have-called-for-a-radical-global-wealth-tax-on-billionaires-how-would-that-work-257632>

"Earlier this year, I attended a housing conference in Sydney. The event’s
opening address centred on the way Australia seems to be becoming like
18th-century England – a country where inheritance largely determines one’s
opportunities in life.

There has been a lot of media coverage of economic inequities in Australian
society. Our tax system has been partly blamed for this problem. The case for
long-term, visionary tax reform has never been stronger. And one area of tax
reform could be a wealth tax.

First, let’s be clear about one thing. Unlike the superannuation tax reforms
currently being debated for those with more than A$3 million in superannuation,
the wealth tax we’re talking about would apply to a very different cohort:
billionaires.

A recent article in the Financial Times re-examined a proposal to impose such
a tax on the world’s highest-net-worth individuals. It also pointed out these
efforts would need to be globally coordinated.

Such taxes could collect significant sums of money for governments. It’s
previously been estimated a billionaire tax could raise US$250 billion (more
than A$380 billion) globally if just 2% of the net worth of the world’s
billionaires was taxed each year."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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