Taxing the ultra-wealthy to fund schools and healthcare, Digi Mart USA News: Proposals to ask the largest fortunes to contribute more to healthcare and education are gaining ground in public debate, from California to France. Supporters promote a range of mechanisms, including one-time taxes, taxes on wealth, and reform of inheritance rules.
In California, economist Gabriel Zucman backs a one-time tax on the wealth of billionaires, spread over five years and put to a vote during the midterm elections this Tuesday. The measure would impose a single 5% levy on roughly 250 billionaires based in the state.
Expected revenue is estimated at nearly $100 billion, or about 92 billion euros. The money would go first to the health system and then to education.
If approved, the measure would be a first, as it would target both the personal and business wealth of billionaires.
In France, pressure has increased after six weeks of social protest demanding more funding for education. In early October, economists Élise Huillery and Romane Paris presented, through the Public Finance Lab, an emergency plan costed at 11.8 billion euros.
Their roadmap is broad: reducing class sizes, better training for teachers, higher salaries, building renovations, and tutoring for disadvantaged students. In higher education, it would increase scholarships and create 120,000 places, including 70,000 in short, high-demand programs such as IUTs and STSs.
To finance this package, they propose a tax on inheritances above 4 million euros, with an estimated yield of 12.7 billion euros. Romane Paris argues that very large estates are currently poorly captured by inheritance duties and supports funding education through reform of this tax.
The debate goes further. In 2026, Thomas Piketty proposed an exceptional national solidarity tax on billionaires and centimillionaires, which he envisions being approved by referendum.
According to him, the package could raise 800 billion euros, combining a 50% levy on gains above 100 million euros between 2017 and 2027 with a permanent 5% tax above 100 million and 10% above 1 billion.
He points to a precedent: the national solidarity tax applied in 1945 by the provisional government of General de Gaulle. Meanwhile, the Observatoire des inégalités notes that the 500 largest professional fortunes in France reached 1,128 billion euros in 2025, compared with 170 billion twenty years earlier, according to the Challenges ranking.
In the National Assembly, however, these proposals have so far hit a wall. In mid-October, a 2% Zucman tax backed by left-wing deputies, affecting about 1,800 tax households, was rejected, as were amendments on a minimum tax on wealth above 100 million euros and several proposals to restore the ISF wealth tax.
For Oxfam, which published 19 measures, the real obstacle remains political will. Budget discussions must move quickly before the bill goes to the Senate.
