Wealth and income inequality have been rising since the nineteen eighties. Though technology and globalisation are major drivers, financial deregulation, tax cuts in income and capital gains are no less responsible for this rise. What is the role of the men and women who set the rules of the game and these tax rates? Using new biographical data on finance ministers in 50 democracies over a period of 15 years, this project looks at the relationship between finance ministers’ career interests and economic policies, with a focus on taxation and financial regulation. We test a number of hypotheses on finance ministers' policy biases on tax rates and financial sector regulation depending on their past and post-politics profession, as well as positions they held pre- and post- politics in corporate boards. We expect that those coming and going to the high-paying corporate and financial sector are more likely to be biased towards lower capital and corporate taxes. The project innovates by studying an array of tax policies, not studied before in a large-n study such as capital gains tax. Further it innovates by collecting detailed biographical data in Europe and the Americas, as well as in democracies in Africa and Asia. The biographical data include detailed information on finance ministers' occupations, before and after politics, as well as their jobs on corporate boards.