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Taxation of the Rich. Social Inequality in the Long-Run

At the beginning of 2014, Oxfam reported that the richest 85 people globally owned as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population, i.e. over three and a half billion people. Two years later, it took only 62 super-rich people to equal the wealth of the poorer half of humanity, and by 2018, only 26 super-rich individuals. Such figures confirm the impression that we are currently living in times of exponentially growing inequality.

Top wealth in the United States has returned to the levels that had been accumulated there at the end of the 19th century. After taxes had primarily contributed to promoting inequality until the 19th century, this trend began to reverse. In most instances, income tax contributed to this, but wealth and inheritance taxes also played a role. Comparing industrialised countries in the 20th and 21st century, this lecture examines how this development came about and why taxes no longer slow down the increasing concentration of wealth today. And to which extent did the world wars and the political orientation of governments play a defining role in shaping the respective tax policies?

Speakers

Marc Buggeln is Professor for Regional History and Public History at the European University in Flensburg, Germany. His Ph.D. analysed forced labour in Nazi Concentration Camps in WWII. His habilitation was on taxation and social inequality in Germany in comparative perspective from 1871 until today. The study was published in 2022 by Suhrkamp under the title Das Versprechen der Gleichheit (The Promise of Equality).

Hanno Balz is a member of the academic staff at the Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam and a Lektor for the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst. He teaches German and European history at the University of Amsterdam. Hanno’s fields of research are the history of social movements, cultural and media history, and the Shoah and Nazi rule and its legacy. He published extensively on media and terrorism in West Germany.