Gabriel Zucman organizes Paris summit on fiscal justice with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez

PARIS — Gabriel Zucman, an economist who became a household name in France last year thanks to his proposed wealth tax, is organizing a major summit on fiscal justice in Paris on Nov. 21 and has invited U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“The explosion in extreme wealth and the accompanying concentration of power are disrupting our societies. It is this imbalance that the Paris summit aims to tackle,” Zucman said in an interview. “The aim is to provide an objective assessment of this new reality and to help forge the international partnerships that will ultimately enable democratic forces to prevail.”

Zucman, who teaches at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the world’s highest-profile advocates of taxing the ultra-wealthy. In recent months, he has campaigned for a California ballot initiative to levy a one-time state tax on billionaires equal to 5% of their net worth. Zucman and two fellow economists estimated the measure, Proposition 40, could bring in about $100 million in revenue.

Zucman’s Paris event — currently billed as the “Summit Against the International Oligarchy” — is nominally focused on three themes: media and online platforms, artificial intelligence and taxing billionaires.

But it won’t have an impact on the California contest, as voters there head to the polls on Nov. 3.

Instead, it appears to be an opportunity to thrust wealth inequality and tax justice back into the public debate ahead of the next French presidential election, whose first round takes place in April of next year. The event, whose co-organizers include Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and best-selling author Thomas Piketty, will kick off just a few days after the launch of Zucman’s similarly titled book, “Against the International Oligarchy.”

Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — whom Zucman met in April — and top Mamdani aide Morris Katz were all invited, according to Pierre Natnaël Bussière, Zucman’s strategy and communications adviser.

Representatives for Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire — who modeled parts of his campaign earlier this year on Mamdani’s — is slated to speak at a gala following the summit.

While Grégoire has been trying to keep his focus local and beef up his image as a Paris-first leader, the unequal distribution of wealth and the growing proportion of wealth derived from inheritance are issues that affect housing prices and purchasing power in Paris — two key priorities for Grégoire.

Anthony Lattier contributed to this report.