Stiglitz on the need for economic reforms to salvage democratic politics

Joseph Stiglitz argues here that tackling inequality is essential if we are to continue to have functioning democracies, and argues that we need to tax the rich more.

This is obviously controversial: the tax burden in many economies is historically quite high, and the rich pay a sizeable part of it. However, you might make the case that in proportional terms the super-rich are substantially better-off than before, and a greater number of people have asset wealth that could also be taxed.

I don't have a coherent position on this I'm afraid. My gut instinct is that if you can afford to pay accountants to reduce your tax burden, you should probably be paying more tax. That doesn't strike me as a bad heuristic.