Wealth tax proposals from Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are underpinned by the idea that the economy is rigged in favor of the wealthy, and new data from two liberal economists claim the richest 400 Americans had a lower tax rate in 2018 than the poorest among us. This makes for sensational headlines and good stump speeches, but this narrative of extreme inequality has been roundly disputed in the economic community, and policymakers should steer clear of thinking that there’s a gold mine of untaxed wealth.

Economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman’s new book, The Triumph of Injustice, is the source of these explosive claims. The headline-making data are well outside the mainstream of the economics professions’ due to questionable assumptions made by the two economists. Their results differ substantially from those of government agencies such as the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation that have evaluated the same issue.