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Professor Ray Madoff on How to Tax the Rich
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Why do billionaires often pay lower tax rates than working Americans?
In this episode of the Sunlight Tax Podcast, I sit down with tax policy expert and professor, Ray Madoff, to explore how income, wealth, and inheritance are taxed in the United States, and why the current system often favors the ultra-wealthy.
We discuss wealth inequality, estate taxes, billionaire tax strategies, and the most promising proposals for tax reform. If you've ever wondered how the tax code shapes who builds wealth in America, this conversation offers a clear and accessible look at what a fairer tax system could look like.
“Somebody who is self-employed and earned sixty thousand dollars will pay about thirteen thousand dollars in income taxes and payroll taxes.”
Why do billionaires often pay lower tax rates than working Americans? In this episode of the Sunlight Tax Podcast, I sit down with tax policy expert and professor, Ray Madoff, to explore how income, wealth, and inheritance are taxed in the United States, and why the current system often favors the ultra-wealthy.
We discuss wealth inequality, estate taxes, billionaire tax strategies, and the most promising proposals for tax reform. If you've ever wondered how the tax code shapes who builds wealth in America, this conversation offers a clear and accessible look at what a fairer tax system could look like.
“Let’s say that you’re Mark Zuckerberg. What he has is a growth in value of his stock. And even though that growth in value of his stock has made him very, very rich, it is not treated as taxable income.”
Also mentioned in today’s episode:
02:30 Background on Professor Ray Madoff and her work
05:40 How the tax system favors the wealthy
07:19 The impact of growth in stock value and tax treatment
09:02 Living off wealth, not income
10:04 Inheritance, gifts, and the lack of taxation
12:15 The estate tax and loopholes
16:20 Public perception and fairness in the tax system
17:21 How the wealthy avoid taxes: borrowing against assets
23:02 Political feasibility of tax reforms
25:46 Wealth taxes and their challenges
29:56 Legal and constitutional issues with wealth taxes
31:46 Potential benefits of well-designed tax policies
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and share it! Every review makes a difference by telling Apple or Spotify to show the Sunlight Tax podcast to new audiences.
About Professor Ray D. Madoff:
Ray D. Madoff is a professor at Boston College Law School and the cofounder and director of the Boston College Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good. She is the author of Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead and lead author of The Practical Guide to Estate Planning. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Review of Books, among other outlets.
Episode Links:
Professor Ray Madoff’s Book: The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy
My FAQ page on how to Tax the Rich
Get your FREE visual guide to tax deductions
Order my book: Taxes for Humans: Simplify Your Taxes and Change the World When You’re Self-Employed
10 Reasons Self-Employed People Get Stuck with Money, and How to Fix It
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10 Reasons Self-Employed People Get Stuck with Money, and How to Fix It
Today, I’m sharing my thoughts about why it’s so hard for creative entrepreneurs and ethically aligned people to get well-served when it comes to money.
Join me in this episode as I go over the 10 main points and the solutions on how creative and mission-driven people can stop having a bad relationship with money and grow their wealth.
LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE HERE
Today, I’m sharing my thoughts about why it’s so hard for creative entrepreneurs and ethically aligned people to get well-served when it comes to money.
Join me in this episode as I go over the 10 main points and the solutions on how creative and mission-driven people can stop having a bad relationship with money and grow their wealth.
Also mentioned in today’s episode:
Why is it so difficult for us to get on top of our money
Mission-driven people and why they can get into a bad relationship with money
The difference between having tax knowledge vs bookkeeping knowledge
The 3 part system you need to grow your money
How its possible for you to have a modest income and big stash of money
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and share it!
Links:
https://www.sunlighttax.com/deductionsguide
Some of the Art World’s Largest Donors Have Paid Millions to Squelch a Wealth Tax
The Democratic candidates for the presidency — especially Warren and Sanders — have proposed establishing new “wealth taxes” to address income inequality in the US. This is an important conversation for our country to have, because income inequality is at a five-decade high now in the US, and has insidious effects on the entire population. But these proposals would be difficult to implement, and there’s concern that such taxes might even be subject to a constitutional challenge.
But before we get lost in that debate, I want to reacquaint everyone with the tax we already have on the books that addresses income inequality: the Estate Tax. A decades-long campaign by the ultra-wealthy has successfully confused and misinformed United States taxpayers about what the estate tax actually is and who it affects. Among those families are several of the art world’s biggest patrons, including the Koch, deVos, Mars, Bass, and Walton families.
A decades-long campaign by the ultra-wealthy, including the Koch, deVos, Mars, Bass, and Walton families, has successfully misinformed United States taxpayers about what the estate tax actually is and who it affects.
The Democratic candidates for the presidency — especially Warren and Sanders — have proposed establishing new “wealth taxes” to address income inequality in the US. This is an important conversation for our country to have, because income inequality is at a five-decade high now in the US, and has insidious effects on the entire population. But these proposals would be difficult to implement, and there’s concern that such taxes might even be subject to a constitutional challenge.
But before we get lost in that debate, I want to reacquaint everyone with the tax we already have on the books that addresses income inequality: the Estate Tax. A decades-long campaign by the ultra-wealthy has successfully confused and misinformed United States taxpayers about what the estate tax actually is and who it affects. Among those families are several of the art world’s biggest patrons, including the Koch, deVos, Mars, Bass, and Walton families.
So what is the estate tax? …read more…
This article first appeared on Hyperallergic on March 13, 2020.
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