Who said: "[The deficit is] not sustainable (...). If the ox has got to get gored, it's got to come out of the wealthy. It's got to come out of the billionaire class. It cannot come out of the middle class ... it's hard enough to get by today." Gabriel Zucman? Thomas Piketty? The American economist Joseph Stiglitz? The correct answer is Steve Bannon, former adviser to US President Donald Trump and still an influential voice in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Although, given the current political landscape, there is little chance that Trump would ever decide to tax billionaires, the very existence of such a debate within his own political camp says a lot about the growing interest and activism – in many countries – to make the ultra-wealthy pay more taxes.

From Brazil to Norway, from the United Kingdom to Germany, calls to tax the ultra-rich have multiplied. In recent months, France has found itself at the center of controversy after economist Zucman put forward a hotly debated proposal: a minimum tax of 2% on fortunes above €100 million.

Quentin Parrinello, public policy director at the Observatoire Européen de la Fiscalité (OEF, European Tax Observatory), which is headed by Zucman, explained that it's a logical concept: Governments need revenue from taxation to address demographic changes, increased defense spending, and climate transition. Over the past 40 years, rising inequality – fueled by booming financial markets, especially in the English-speaking world – has allowed billionaires' wealth to grow much faster than that of the general population and states themselves.

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