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On October 7th, I interviewed economist Gabriel Zucman, one of the world’s leading voices on taxing the rich. He has spent his career exposing how the very wealthy avoid paying their fair share, and making the case for why that has to change. Gabriel teaches at UC Berkeley and the Paris School of Economics, and is the author of several books, including The Hidden Wealth of Nations and, most recently, We Need to Tax Billionaires. In France, his proposal for a minimum tax on the ultra-rich became so central to the national debate that people simply call it the Zucman tax. He’s also quite popular on social media these days.

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When it comes to reversing wealth inequality or fixing our broken democracy, philanthropy is a sideshow, not the main event. It can be meaningful, and it provides vital funding to many organizations and communities. But it’s also a glossy distraction that celebrates the generosity of the rich while everyone else competes for their loose change.

So what’s the main event? Taxes.

Last year, charitable and political giving in the United States totaled $637 billion. Federal taxes, by comparison, moved $5.2 trillion from private to public hands.

Taxes are the largest and most democratic tool we have to redistribute wealth and power. If we think voluntary giving alone can address wealth inequality, or that we can win the battle between democracy and oligarchy without changing the tax code, we’re kidding ourselves.

Now the fight over taxing extreme wealth has come to my home state of California. On November 3rd, voters will decide on Proposition 40, the Billionaire Tax Act: a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of California residents worth more than $1 billion, with the money going to health care. But billionaires aren’t leaving it to chance. They’re bankrolling Propositions 41 and 42, decoys designed to cancel out Prop 40: if either gets more votes, the billionaire tax dies even if it passes.

In my conversation with Gabriel, we talk about why taxing extreme wealth matters for democracy, what the opposition is doing to stop it, and what it will take to win, both this November and in the long run.

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Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please rate and review it on Apple podcasts, and share it with others. We’re relying on our community, like you, to help us spread the word.

To learn more about Organize the Rich, visit www.organizetherich.com where you can find additional episodes, subscribe to the podcast, substack, instagram and youtube channel, buy our publications and more.

Organize The Rich is a project of Solidaire Network. This podcast is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome’s Creative Director is Alex Lewis. Their Executive Producer is John Myers.

Organize the Rich Radio is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

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In this bonus double length episode, Michael interviews his dear friend and former client, Katrina Schaffer.

Katrina is part of the 4th generation of the family that owns the Hallmark corporation. Katrina’s family is quite wealthy. They have a large family office, with close to 30 employees, that manages their money.

In her lifetime, Katrina is expected to inherit around 94 million dollars, mostly in yearly distributions of around 1.3 million after taxes.

Since 2019, Katrina has moved more than 25 million dollars of her personal wealth to social justice organizing and power building efforts with her main priority areas being climate justice, electoral organizing and disability justice. Over 60% of the money she moved was to organizations, campaigns or individuals where there was no tax break for the donation.

Since recording this interview in the Spring of 2025, after 6 years of working intensively together, Michael transitioned out of his paid donor advisor role to take on the work with Organize the Rich fully.

This interview with Katrina is the story of one person, born into a wealthy family, trying to do it differently. In a family system setup to pass down massive amounts of wealth, generation after generation, Katrina has been attempting to move the money out of her control and into the hands of organizers and communities trying to build a more healthy, just and equitable world. As part of this process, she has been working towards the goal of ending her own dependence on inherited wealth. And trying to bring her family along with her in the process. Not lose them or reject them but get free together.

Listen in to learn more.

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Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please rate and review it on Apple podcasts, and share it with others. We’re relying on our community, like you, to help us spread the word.

To learn more about Organize the Rich and find us on Substack, YouTube or Instagram: https://linktr.ee/organizetherich

Organize the Rich Radio is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

Text the Organize the Rich hotline

In the last episode of this season, hosts Michael Gast and Allison Budschalow sit down with Monica Simpson.

Monica is, among many things, the Executive Director of SisterSong, the United States' largest organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color, and one of TIME magazine's 100’s most influential people of 2023. She is also a member of the Trust Web, the redistribution project we learned about in our first episode with Elspeth Gilmore.

Monica shares her journey from a small rural town in North Carolina to becoming a national leader for reproductive justice, and how her nickname "Money" foreshadowed a life deeply engaged with questions of wealth, power, and equity.

Monica reflects on her experience with the Trust Web—a collective of 12 social justice leaders who redistributed a $7 million inheritance through no-strings-attached gifts. She discusses what she calls the "generational poverty mindset," exploring how it shaped her relationship with money and how breaking through it has transformed both her personal life and her leadership of SisterSong.

This conversation delves into the challenging and essential work of building cross-class, multiracial relationships and coalitions. Monica talks about pivotal moments that taught her to see the humanity in people across class divides, the spiritual dimensions of money and survival, and why showing up at uncomfortable tables is crucial for movement building.

Interested in wealth redistribution, cross-class organizing, reproductive justice, and what it takes to build movements that transform? This is the episode for you.

What a great bookend to our first season!

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please rate and review it on Apple podcasts, and share it with others. We’re relying on our community, like you, to help us spread the word.

To learn more about Organize the Rich and find us on Substack, YouTube or Instagram: https://linktr.ee/organizetherich

Organize the Rich Radio is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.