How To Actually Tax The Rich

This week on Prof G Markets, Scott Galloway and Ed Elson sit down with Ray Madoff to break down how America's wealthiest avoid taxes — legally. They dig into the biggest loophole the ultrawealthy use to their advantage and discuss what it would actually take to fix a system that was designed to fail. Ray Madoff is a professor at Boston College Law School and the author of The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy. Find Ray Madoff's book here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/... Get your tickets to the Prof G Markets Tour: https://profgmarketstour.com Subscribe to the Prof G Markets newsletter: https://links.profgmedia.com/markets-... Order Notes On Being A Man now! https://amzn.to/4nl4VKo Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:47 Today's number 01:05 Today's episode 05:52 Interview with Ray Madoff 06:59 If it’s true that the wealthiest people in America pay the majority of the taxes, what is the problem? 09:03 How do the wealthiest make their money compared to the average American? 12:57 If the wealthy are not getting a salary, then how are they paying for themselves? 16:07 Is it a good idea to get rid of the estate tax exemption and institute an alternative minimum tax on income above a million dollars? 22:01 Ad break 23:58 Why isn’t the estate tax working? 33:04 If the estate tax exemption isn’t the issue then what do we do about this? 38:05 Should we essentially be just increasing the capital gains tax? 40:44 Why is it standard that capital gains are taxed at a significantly lower rate than standard income? 42:07 Can it reduce investment or just have an overall downward effect on the stock market? 42:59 Ad break 44:18 What are two or three ideas for the least taxing or most equitable tax increases? 44:53 What about 1031 exchanges or putting things into an LLC? 47:39 Why no wealth tax? 49:27 Without global cooperation on minimum taxes, won’t companies still exploit international tax arbitrage? 51:08 Do you think that a wealth tax would be the right move if it were possible? 52:43 Is the bigger problem the governmental spending or is it that we’re not generating enough tax revenue? 57:27 What is the right taxation approach to the next big technology? 58:30 What’s the argument that could unite people behind a real solution? 01:00:46 Credits Follow Scott on Instagram:   / profgalloway   Follow Ed on Instagram, X and Substack:   / ed_elson_     / edels0n   https://substack.com/@edwardelson Subscribe to Prof G Markets on Spotify: https://links.profgmedia.com/markets-... Got a question for Prof G? Get answers on TikTok: https://links.profgmedia.com/tiktok Want more Prof G? Check out everything we're up to at: https://links.profgmedia.com/home Send us your questions or comments by emailing [email protected] Note: We may earn revenue from some of the links we provide. #business #news #tech #financemotivation #stockmarket #profg #scottgalloway #edelson #profgmarkets #ai #earnings #stocks #inflation #investmentstrategies #investment #investing #gdp #tariffs #2026