Berkeley tax economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez find fresh insights into wealth inequality in America.

Berkeley tax economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez find fresh insights into wealth inequality in America. Their latest estimates show that the top 0.1% of U.S. taxpayers control 20% of American wealth. This result represents the highest share since 1929. The top 1% of U.S. taxpayers control 39% of American wealth, whereas, the bottom 90% of U.S. taxpayers keep only 26% of American wealth. In contrast, the bottom half of Americans collectively have a negative net worth (i.e. total liabilities exceed total assets).

Zucman further finds that multinational corporations move 40% of their $600 billion offshore profits out of high-tax countries into lower-tax jurisdictions. With their main empirical results, Saez and Zucman both champion bold and aggressive tax policy recommendations. For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren proposes a wealth tax that would rake in $2.8 trillion over the next decade. Warren confers with Saez and Zucman again before she floats a corporate tax on net profits above $100 million. This tax may raise $1 trillion over 10 years.  Further, New York congressional rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposes to hike the top marginal tax rate for Americans who earn annual income above $10 million. The Saez-Zucman empirical results lend credence to these bold tax policy proposals.