OeNB HFCS Freitagsseminar mit Martyna Linartas

The Role of the Inheritance Tax and Narratives for Extreme Levels of Wealth Inequality

OeNB HFCS Freitagsseminar mit Martyna Linartas, PhD Researcher an der Freien Universität Berlin, Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) und Gründerin von ungleichheit.info

With extreme and rising levels of wealth inequality we deal with one of the most pressing problems of liberal democracies. Recent research reveals that the main cause for the decline of wealth inequality in most OECD states lies in the history of the twentieth century and redistributive tax policies in meritocratic democracies in the postwar years. Decades later and at present, Thomas Piketty speaks of the return to inheritance societies, defined as “a society characterized by both a very high concentration of wealth and a significant persistence of large fortunes from generation to generation” (Piketty 2014, 351). However, although OECD states observe a high and growing cumulated stock of inherited wealth as fraction of private wealth, the debate about inheritance taxes remains insignificant. This is puzzling, as inheritances play a pivotal role in the ongoing creation of extreme wealth inequality over time and are completely at odds with the guiding principle of liberal democracies: the claim and aspiration to be a meritocracy. I assume narratives about taxes in general, changes in paradigms and ideologies, and especially the economic elite´s strong belief in a meritocratic system to be the reasons for the present poor performance of the inheritance tax.

Datum:
Freitag, 21. April 2023, 11.00 bis 12.30 Uhr

Ort:
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Otto-Wagner-Platz 3
1090 Wien
und online via Webex

Bitte kontaktieren Sie das Event-Management bis 19.04.2023, um eine persönliche Einladung zu erhalten.