Taxing the Ultra-Rich, Trump... Who is Gabriel Zucman, the Economist Who Put Macron in His Place?

French President Emmanuel Macron returned Tuesday evening on TF1 to discuss the Zucman tax, adopted in February by French deputies in the National Assembly, against the government's advice. This 2% minimum tax on the wealth of the ultra-rich, inspired by the work of French economist Gabriel Zucman, is not realistic on a French scale, according to Emmanuel Macron.

"The Zucman tax makes sense if it's global. That's why I fought with President Lula and, at the time, with President Biden to have it implemented at the OECD level. Do you think that if France alone imposes a tax on assets worth more than €100 million, people will kindly stay and be taxed?" the head of state asked.

The 38-year-old economist took to social media X to respond immediately after the president's televised address on Tuesday. According to him, the Zucman tax does not depend on a global agreement to be effective and would not drive the wealthy out. "Tax exile in response to wealth taxation is a negligible phenomenon. There is simply no solid study that would demonstrate the existence of massive tax exile flows," Gabriel Zucman explained on X.

The latter is a gifted economics major and a pure product of French education. He comes from a family of scientists and doctors. His father is an AIDS treatment specialist and his mother is a researcher. Gabriel Zucman completed his preparatory studies at the Lycée Henri IV and entered the École Normale Supérieure.

He describes himself as a child of the 2008 financial crisis. The economist started his first job in finance the same day that the American bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. This experience was a turning point for him at just 21 years old.

A dozen years later, he became a professor at Berkeley University, at just 33 years old. In 2018, Gabriel Zucam received the Best Young French Economist Award. He completed his thesis under the supervision of Thomas Piketty. Since then, the Frenchman has advised prominent American Democrats on their campaigns.

Some Americans have criticized him for importing "communist" ideas from Europe to the United States. Facing Donald Trump, he calls on the countries of the old continent to adopt "interpositional protectionism," notably by taxing large American corporations.