title: 🔴 Inside Economics: How much tax should the rich pay?
author: The Economist
content_type: newsletter
publication: e.economist.com
published: 2026-02-09T12:17:23-06:00
source_url: gmail://19c439f6d759a4a4
word_count: 960
Many think the world’s wealthy should hand over more
February 9th 2026
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Inside Economics: How much tax should the rich pay?
Henry Curr
Economics editor
There are many myths about the “neoliberal era”. One is that politicians took a scythe to the welfare state. In fact, from tax credits to health care, redistribution has grown since the 1970s. In America in 1979 the lowest quintile of earners received means-tested transfers equivalent to 32% of their market incomes. Today the figure is 72%. And the average federal income-tax rate paid by the top 1% of earners has gone up not down.
In tomorrow’s Inside Economics show we’re going to take on a fundamental question for society: how much should the government take from Peter to pay Paul? In America the increased redistribution of recent decades has mostly been a counterweight to rising pre-tax inequality. But many European countries have gone further, more than offsetting any increase in income inequality since 1990. In Britain, for example, inequality after tax and transfers is at its lowest, among working-age people, since 1986. Rising taxes on high incomes have allowed taxes on the middle and bottom to collapse.
Yet the world is awash with proposals to tax the rich more. Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new mayor, wants a 2% additional tax on those earning more than $1m a year (roughly, the city’s top 1%). Californians may soon vote on a “one-off” 5% tax on billionaires resident in the state. Last year there was a lively public debate in France about a wealth tax. The left still claims that the rich do not pay their “fair share”.
But is there such a thing? My colleagues and I will try to answer that question, too. Rachana Shanbhogue, our business affairs editor, will be with me in the studio. Mike Bird, our Wall Street editor, will join down the line from New York. We’ll boil down the history of government distribution, discuss the ethics of tax and spend, and ask what economics can tell us about how much to redistribute (spoiler: not much). We’ll also be discussing your questions and opinions. Please tell us what you think about top earners’ tax contributions by voting in our poll and send in any questions you have via the Q&A feature on the episode page. The show will be available to watch from 6pm London time (1pm in New York) on Tuesday. See you then—and please do send your thoughts and feedback to insider@economist.com.
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Next show
Inside Economics
How much tax should the rich pay?
Many people think the world’s wealthy should hand over more. Our editors ask if they’re right
Tuesday Feb 10th, 6pm GMT · 45 min
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