From the technological Olympus of Silicon Valley to the urban canyons of Wall Street, a narrow club of vastly wealthy plutocrats sits on a ballooning share of the nation’s resources. One percent of Americans at the apex of the economy are hoarding over 31% of the nation’s total wealth, a cool $55tn in net worth.
Getting them to share with the rest of society, to fund redistribution or pay for public goods, is proving pretty much impossible. Their ability to move resources around, hide profit across jurisdictions, and minimize income to hoard wealth until they die appears to put them beyond the reach of taxation.
One recent research paper found that the country’s richest 384 oligarchs paid only 24% of their economic income in 2025, compared with 30% for the average taxpayer. And not all of them are getting top notch tax advice. Reporting by ProPublica revealed that some of the richest Americans – like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg – live largely tax free.
I would even go a step further than “get them to pay their own fair share.”
When we talk about taxing billionaires, as we are in California right now, they always say the same thing: we will just leave.
Well, maybe that’s a good thing. Billionaires flock to the US because they know they can do business with a free hand here and keep all the profits. And we see the results: capture of the state, exploitation of the workers, pollution of the media.
Maybe it would be good for the US if it were no longer seen as the billionaires business paradise and they fucked off somewhwre else to try their luck?
Good riddance. I can’t think of the last time a billionaire did any good besides build a new worthless toy or find a way to exploit consumers and the government.
Not like we’ll collapse anyway. Most of their money is spent on overseas labor and goods because they want to hoard all they can.
Go further. Start guillotining them.
As of early October, 260 billionaires lived in the state, according to the Forbes billionaires’ list, amassing nearly $2.5tn in wealth. Based on these numbers, the 5% tax would raise some $110bn
If a one time 5% tax on 260 people would raise $110,000,000,000 that alone should be enough to show you how fucked up our system is.
Tax or take, it’s their choice
The US has never been democratic for the working classes, and certainly not for indigenous peoples. Even if the US taxes billionaires, it will still not be able to stop the inherent crisis of profitability that is to come.
Well it’s not going to happen. Here in California, we are about to reject a billionaire tax, and vote for what will essentially mean privatization and the end of many social services.
Here in Massachusetts our “millionaire tax” has been well received and widely supported. Probably helps that the extra income is partly targeted toward stuff that directly helps people: school lunches, free tuition, transit…… but here on Lemmy I see people bitching about our governor “taxing everyone for everything”
Wolf, I always thought California had a level head
You a stupid hoe
Here’s how it works: They pay no taxes because they own the government. So we pay taxes and give them our money.
Then they take our money and and use it to fund their terrible ideas that usually just fucking crash and burn and tank the entire fucking economy. So then they need more money. So you continue to pay more money, and they take your money. Now they have more money.
But we can’t ask them to contribute money to fund public services let alone their own harebrained schemes because “Something something… Milton Friedman… Blah, blah, blah Hayek and the road to Serfdom, and the CIA is busy defending our freedom, yada, yada, yada.”
I made this website to be able to find wealth tax supporters, it also has a parliamentary seats view, directory and other stuff. Linking to the US but I’ve added 25 countries so far: https://wealthtaxsupporters.com/us
Wrong verb
Wrongthink to base it on jealousy emotions. Core solution is eliminating tax breaks for investment income instead of targeting wealth, and to redistribute power through UBI (enough), and ideally liquid democracy.
https://naturalfinance.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-global-prosperity-manifesto.html
Nazi democracy’s problems are Oligarchy/Zionism having disproportionate influence because winners control budgets, and gift everything to their sponsors, at expense of people. Picking a losing fight with no significant consequence even if implemented is just manipulating public’s emotions instead of structurally fixing corruption.
eliminating tax breaks for investment income instead of targeting wealth
Eliminating various tax breaks for “non-income” income is certainly a good start, but when there are people able to live on their wealth rather than income, it’s not enough.
Plus you’re forgetting a progressive tax rate. Why are we ok with different tax rates depending on income for most of us, but with the top rate at upper-middle income. You’re basically targeting doctors and lawyers as “the wealthiest”, when they also earn next to nothing compared with actual wealthy, and they work for their income. Im not saying they shouldnt have a higher rate, i’m saying we clearly need tax brackets above that
Hard disagree. Failure to appropriately tax wealth while taxing income alone is the fundamental cause of labour having no value in the modern economic system. Ownership, not work, generates profit, ergo work has no market value, only wealth. There is no jealousy. Only a monster wants to be a billionaire while their neighbours starve. Taxing investment income is a fools errand because there are a million ways for them to enrich themselves off their holdings without appearing to HAVE income, on paper.
Taxing wealth may be hard, but so was taxing income when we first tried it. We got better at tracking it.
Failure to appropriately tax wealth while taxing income alone is the fundamental cause of labour having no value in the modern economic system
Linked proposal would have 0 employment income taxes up to $100k, and 0 payroll taxes. 5% increment surtaxes on sliding scale incomes above $100k. Investment income would have base 25% tax. Taxing the income that is derived from wealth (investments) at equal rate to employment income (the 0 income tax is a gimmick based on not deducting employment expenses from employer) is both the right fairness balance, and high revenue raiser. The far greater benefit to 90% of population, overlapping the employee class, is freedom dividends. Over $36k/year in US per adult can be afforded when we stop thinking of just wealth taxes to fund a larger nazi empire by the oligarchs for the oligarchs.
Taxing investment income is a fools errand because there are a million ways for them to enrich themselves off their holdings without appearing to HAVE income, on paper.
The one big way is borrowing against investments. A $1m-$5m limit would go a long way to eliminating the loophole for ultra rich. Trusts can be taxed more. The loopholes can be fixed.
The race to the bottom in US, is based on piecemeal “populist emotional” local measures, that just as Corporate investments shop arround for biggest local tax breaks, threats of leaving when “fair tax local” proposals/policy pass is a weak attempt at not fixing anything.
Instead of taxing wealth as a principle, I do support financially zeroing out those who sponsor speech of nazi economic fraud, and zionazi theft of American prosperity. But, essentially, everyone is/should be encouraged to get as rich as they want as long as they STFU and pay their taxes instead of corrupting government to make them richer.
I agree it needs to happen, but how do we prevent them from parking all their money in offshore accounts?
That happens now and the us has been pretty aggressive about chasing it down
