Dr. Arthur Laffer vs. Dr. Emmanuel Saez: A Debate on California’s Wealth Tax on Billionaires

The Debaters

Dr. Arthur Laffer is widely known as the “Father of Supply-Side Economics,” served on President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump in 2019. He is known for the Laffer Curve, which illustrates the relationship between tax rates and government revenue. His ideas also helped shape California’s Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 ballot initiative that reduced and capped property taxes in the State of California. In 2022, Dr. Laffer co-authored his most recent book, Taxes Have Consequences: An Income Tax History of the United States, in which he argues that high income tax rates on top earners stifle economic growth.

Dr. Emmanuel Saez is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of UC Berkeley’s James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality. A recipient of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal, Dr. Saez is one of the world’s leading scholars on inequality, wealth concentration, and progressive taxation. His 2019 book, The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay, laid the groundwork for California’s wealth tax proposal.

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