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.
What’s the point when the pentagon can’t even pass an audit?
It’s a black hole, sucking in every dollar with insatiable greed, straight into the deep pockets of military contractors. They’ll just buy more robots like there’s no tomorrow at millions a pop. Every dollar will be killer robots…
I’m all for taxes, but with our government in this state, I don’t think an increased billionaire tax, or any tax, will solve any of our problems, not even one.
If a company can’t pass an audit, it’s dismantled, with legal consequences.
I don’t think any amount of increased tax income can save the USA at this point when we don’t even know where the money is going. It’s like giving money to a drug addict, except the drug is terminators.