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“A wealth tax is double taxation: the money was already taxed when it was earned.”

Every tax is paid from money that was taxed before, and much of the biggest fortunes was never taxed at all

Wages carry income tax, social contributions and VAT, and the flat bought with what's left carries property tax every year. A fortune held in companies grows as retained profit and unrealised gain. In Norway and Sweden holding companies shield about half of dividends from personal income tax, and gains are normally taxed only when an asset is sold.

By Egalitaristen · Updated November 9, 2026 · 3 min read

A cleaner on the minimum wage pays income tax and social contributions on her wages, and VAT or sales tax when she spends what's left. If she owns a flat, she pays property tax on it every year, out of money that was taxed before. Nobody calls the property tax unfair because the flat was bought with taxed income. The objection to a wealth tax asks us to believe the richest, and only the richest, should be spared a tax on money that was taxed before.

#What "double" would have to mean

If double taxation were a reason to refuse a tax, no tax would survive. Income tax takes a share of the wage, VAT takes a share of what the wage buys, and property tax takes a share of the house bought with it. Every tax falls on money that an earlier tax already reached. A tax system is a stack of them, and the real question is who the stack falls on.

Where researchers have measured it, the stack falls lightest on the top. In France in 2016 the effective direct tax rate was 46% for the top 0.1% of households and 26% for the top 0.0002%.^[2] In Norway and Sweden it drops from about 50% for the upper middle class to 15% to 20% at the very top.^[1]

#Much of it was never taxed

The objection assumes wealth is saved-up after-tax income. For the largest fortunes it is mostly something else: the growing value of companies the owner controls.

A company can keep its profit, and the owner pays no personal income tax on it until it's paid out. In Norway and Sweden, personal holding companies shield about half of dividend payments from income tax.^[1] In France the profits retained in a household's companies are taxed only at the corporate rate, and income tax and the old wealth tax were a negligible part of billionaires' incomes.^[2] The same shows up in the United States, where the 400 richest report taxable income of about 40% of their economic income, against about 70% for the whole population.^[5]

A gain on an asset that isn't sold is untaxed too. Income taxes are normally charged when the asset is sold, so an asset that is held is not charged.^[3] An unrealised gain hasn't been taxed once, let alone twice. In the United States, for households with more than US$50 million, capital gains are an estimated 50% of wealth.^[6]

#A yearly charge for holding

A wealth tax is a yearly tax on net wealth, charged whatever the assets earned that year.^[3] It works like a tax on an assumed return, and a 1% tax on the stock equals a 20% tax on a 5% return.^[4] The OECD points out that income taxes are charged when gains are realised, while a wealth tax is charged as the value accrues.^[3]

For the largest fortunes, the return accrues as retained profit and unrealised gain, and no other tax touches it until a payout or a sale. A wealth tax charges the owner each year for what the owner holds, the way a property tax charges the owner of a flat.

#And in a bad year?

A wealth tax is charged whatever the return, so an owner whose assets fell still owes it.^[3] So does a homeowner whose house lost value: the property tax doesn't fall with the market. At 1% to 2% of the stock against a normal return of 5%, the bill is a fifth to two fifths of a typical year's return.^[4] A year of losses is what a deferral rule is for.

#What follows

The taxes we already have fail the test the objection sets: wages, purchases and homes are all taxed on money that was taxed before. A wealth tax reaches the part of a fortune that no other tax has reached. The design follows: value assets at market value, give the largest holdings no exemption, and let owners defer when cash is short.

#Who says so

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman wrote the studies behind several of the figures. The French story, the Swedish story and the Norwegian story carry the European evidence.

#Where to look next

The next page takes up the claim that we already tax property, gains and inheritance. The first page in this series sets out what each of those taxes reaches.