What do the rich owe the rest of us?: A conversation on taxation and democracy

Set against the backdrop of recent proposals by states to tax their wealthiest residents, this conversation, hosted at BESI on March 10, 2026, explores how the “grand bargains” between the rich and the rest of us became embedded in law and civic culture, how they have broken down over time, and how a renewed interest in taxation — perhaps as essential to democracy as suffrage — might inform a political and regulatory agenda for the future.