I recently read “The Hidden Wealth of Nations” which is an analysis of the economic impacts of corporate tax havens, much like Apple’s Irish tax haven which made headlines today.  In the book, it’s author Gabriel Zucman offers not only analysis and critique of this topic, but offers solutions ranging from regulation to sweeping tax reform.

     For each potential solution Zucman offers, he takes a moment to explain why the suggestion isn’t “utopian” because it may have worked in another country or be within the purview of a sovereign nation, etc.  In part, I think Zucman spends this time pre-emptively defending against the charge of utopianism because his colleague and mentor Thomas Piketty's was also accused of utopianism for suggesting a global tax on wealth in his work “Capital in the Twenty First Century".

     Rather than discuss either economist’s particular argument, I’d like to focus on the accusation of utopianism as a means of dismissing the argument outright...