Kotlikoff Debates Piketty: Do We Need A Wealth Tax?

18 May 2015 | TAXES

CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE DEBATE. 

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Thomas Piketty:

  1. The rate of return to investors (r) is higher than the growth rate of the economy (g).
  2. That is producing increasing inequality.
  3. We need a wealth tax.

Laurence Kotlikoff:

  1. The basic thesis is false: r > g does not imply increasing inequality. That is inconsistent with well-known, well-tested economic theory.
  2. Rich people accumulating capital is good for the poor. More capital leads to higher wages.
  3. There is a lot of mobility among the wealthy. About 60% of the people on the Forbes 400 list were not there in 2001. More than 25% of the list in 2001 were not there three years earlier.
  4. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are two two richest people the country. They are giving almost all their wealth to the poorest people in the world. That’s not bad thing.
  5. The claim that there is rising inequality ignores implied wealth from government transfer programs and generally ignores private pension assets as well.

John C. Goodman is President of the Goodman Institute and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute. His books include the soon-to-be-published updated edition of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, the widely acclaimed A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, and New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. The Wall Street Journal and National Journal, among other media, have called him the “Father of Health Savings Accounts.”