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.
Tell me again how you’re gonna tax capital gains that have not been realized on ownership of stocks?
Millionaires and billionaires borrow money against the value of their stock portfolio or assets. They don’t pay tax on loans because it’s not income. Just like they don’t pay taxes on stocks that own but have not sold.
The argument for taxing billionaires and millionaires doesn’t hold much water. If all their money/assets are held in a trust and they pay themselves a salary of $50,000 a year they’re only paying taxes on the salary.