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Josh Rauh (@joshrauh) rejects Gabriel Zucman’s claim of a 'shocking logical…

2026-07-10 · 21:17 UTC ·@joshrauh ·1 min read

Brief

Josh Rauh responds to Gabriel Zucman’s public critique of his and Jaros’s NYT essay, rejecting Zucman’s 'shocking logical mistake' charge. Zucman says an annual wealth tax would generate revenue every year; Rauh counters that only an enacted tax raises money and challenges Zucman to argue that a recurring tax on stayers must offset revenue lost to emigrating billionaires.

Why it matters

Josh Rauh (@joshrauh) rejects Gabriel Zucman’s claim of a 'shocking logical mistake', saying Rauh & Jaros noted billionaires wouldn’t treat a wealth tax as a one‑shot event but did not credit the state for permanent revenues because 'only an enacted tax raises money'.

Key details

  • Gabriel Zucman (@gabriel_zucman) tweeted that an annual wealth tax 'would also generate revenue every year' and accused Rauh and Jaros of assuming billionaires would emigrate as if the tax were annual while treating revenue as one‑time.
  • Rauh invites Zucman to explicitly argue that a recurring annual wealth tax on those who remain is the only way to offset lost income‑tax revenue from billionaires who leave.
Source evidence

Asset confiscator @gabriel_zucman claims our essay in @nytimes contains a "shocking logical mistake": we observe that billionaires don’t believe it’s the one-shot deal he was peddling, but then we don’t credit the state for permanent wealth tax revenues. The problem? Only an enacted tax raises money. If he wants to tell voters that a recurring wealth tax on those who stay is the only way to offset lost income tax revenues from those gone, then I invite him to go ahead and say so. 1/5

Gabriel Zucman (@gabriel_zucman)

If the tax becomes annual, it would also generate revenue every year by virtue of, you know, being annual.

So have Rauh and Jaros taken this into account?

No.

They assume billionaires would leave as if the tax were annual…

... But that it would generate revenue only once!

— https://nitter.net/gabriel_zucman/status/2073905636430184854#m