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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses a rally against the Republican tax plan outside the U.S. Capitol November 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. The rally was organized by Patriotic Millionaires, left-wing group of weathy people who support political representation for all citizens and believe that the rich should shoulder a greater burden of taxes. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Time for a Tax on Billionaire Wealth Dynasties
Now just three families own a combined fortune of $348.7 billion, which is four million times the median wealth of a U.S. family
Oct 30, 2018
"We are developing into a plutocracy." These words are not from Bernie Sanders, but Paul Volker, the former chair of the Federal Reserve under both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
One indicator that we are drifting toward plutocracy is whether great fortunes grow or disperse over decades. A healthy economy and society sees the creation and dispersal of wealth over generations, as families give to charity, pay taxes, and pass wealth down to ever increasing numbers of heirs.
"These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties." But because of changes in tax law and aggressive use of trusts and tax dodges, we are now witnessing a resurgence of dynastic inherited wealth. There are 15 dynastically wealthy families now on the Forbes 400, according to a report I recently co-authored, Billionaire Bonanza 2018: "Inherited Wealth Dynasties in the 21st-Century United States."
The three wealthiest dynasties are the Walton's of Walmart, the Mars candy family, and the Koch brothers, heirs to the country's second largest private company, the energy conglomerate Koch Industries. These are all enterprises built by the grandparents and parents of today's wealthy heirs and heiresses.
These three families own a combined fortune of $348.7 billion, which is four million times the median wealth of a U.S. family. Since 1982, these three families have seen their wealth increase nearly 6,000 percent, factoring in inflation. Meanwhile, the median household wealth went down 3 percent over the same period.
The dynastic wealth of the Walton family grew from $690 million in 1982 (or $1.81 billion in 2018 dollars) to $169.7 billion in 2018, a mind-numbing increase of 9,257 percent.
These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties.
There are plenty of examples of wealthy individuals choosing not to build dynasties. Warren Buffett, the third-wealthiest person on the Forbes list, has pledged his entire fortune to charity and taxes.
Instead of lobbying for tax cuts, Buffett testified before Congress in favor of expanded estate taxation. "Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise," Buffett told the committee. "Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy."
"To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power."
To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power.
The federal estate tax has been significantly weakened, most recently through the 2017 Trump-Republican tax cut. Taxing inherited wealth as income would help break up current and future wealth dynasties.
The public should also rally to levy a modest tax on wealth over $20 million. A direct tax on wealth paid by the wealthiest one tenth of one percent could generate significant revenue to be reinvested in creating and restoring opportunities for low wealth households to prosper. A 1 percent annual tax on the wealthiest 0.1 percent of households, those with wealth over $20 million, would generate an estimated $1.899 trillion in revenue over the next decade, according to a forthcoming report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
In order to successfully implement these policies, the U.S. must also take leadership in advancing rules and global treaties that discourage aggressive wealth hiding and tax avoidance.
Great dynasties of wealth are unnatural in the United States. A century ago, ordinary Americans rose to the challenge to defend our democracy against plutocratic forces. It is time for us to answer the call again.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is co-founder of CARP and author of Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet.
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"We are developing into a plutocracy." These words are not from Bernie Sanders, but Paul Volker, the former chair of the Federal Reserve under both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
One indicator that we are drifting toward plutocracy is whether great fortunes grow or disperse over decades. A healthy economy and society sees the creation and dispersal of wealth over generations, as families give to charity, pay taxes, and pass wealth down to ever increasing numbers of heirs.
"These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties." But because of changes in tax law and aggressive use of trusts and tax dodges, we are now witnessing a resurgence of dynastic inherited wealth. There are 15 dynastically wealthy families now on the Forbes 400, according to a report I recently co-authored, Billionaire Bonanza 2018: "Inherited Wealth Dynasties in the 21st-Century United States."
The three wealthiest dynasties are the Walton's of Walmart, the Mars candy family, and the Koch brothers, heirs to the country's second largest private company, the energy conglomerate Koch Industries. These are all enterprises built by the grandparents and parents of today's wealthy heirs and heiresses.
These three families own a combined fortune of $348.7 billion, which is four million times the median wealth of a U.S. family. Since 1982, these three families have seen their wealth increase nearly 6,000 percent, factoring in inflation. Meanwhile, the median household wealth went down 3 percent over the same period.
The dynastic wealth of the Walton family grew from $690 million in 1982 (or $1.81 billion in 2018 dollars) to $169.7 billion in 2018, a mind-numbing increase of 9,257 percent.
These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties.
There are plenty of examples of wealthy individuals choosing not to build dynasties. Warren Buffett, the third-wealthiest person on the Forbes list, has pledged his entire fortune to charity and taxes.
Instead of lobbying for tax cuts, Buffett testified before Congress in favor of expanded estate taxation. "Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise," Buffett told the committee. "Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy."
"To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power."
To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power.
The federal estate tax has been significantly weakened, most recently through the 2017 Trump-Republican tax cut. Taxing inherited wealth as income would help break up current and future wealth dynasties.
The public should also rally to levy a modest tax on wealth over $20 million. A direct tax on wealth paid by the wealthiest one tenth of one percent could generate significant revenue to be reinvested in creating and restoring opportunities for low wealth households to prosper. A 1 percent annual tax on the wealthiest 0.1 percent of households, those with wealth over $20 million, would generate an estimated $1.899 trillion in revenue over the next decade, according to a forthcoming report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
In order to successfully implement these policies, the U.S. must also take leadership in advancing rules and global treaties that discourage aggressive wealth hiding and tax avoidance.
Great dynasties of wealth are unnatural in the United States. A century ago, ordinary Americans rose to the challenge to defend our democracy against plutocratic forces. It is time for us to answer the call again.
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is co-founder of CARP and author of Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet.
"We are developing into a plutocracy." These words are not from Bernie Sanders, but Paul Volker, the former chair of the Federal Reserve under both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
One indicator that we are drifting toward plutocracy is whether great fortunes grow or disperse over decades. A healthy economy and society sees the creation and dispersal of wealth over generations, as families give to charity, pay taxes, and pass wealth down to ever increasing numbers of heirs.
"These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties." But because of changes in tax law and aggressive use of trusts and tax dodges, we are now witnessing a resurgence of dynastic inherited wealth. There are 15 dynastically wealthy families now on the Forbes 400, according to a report I recently co-authored, Billionaire Bonanza 2018: "Inherited Wealth Dynasties in the 21st-Century United States."
The three wealthiest dynasties are the Walton's of Walmart, the Mars candy family, and the Koch brothers, heirs to the country's second largest private company, the energy conglomerate Koch Industries. These are all enterprises built by the grandparents and parents of today's wealthy heirs and heiresses.
These three families own a combined fortune of $348.7 billion, which is four million times the median wealth of a U.S. family. Since 1982, these three families have seen their wealth increase nearly 6,000 percent, factoring in inflation. Meanwhile, the median household wealth went down 3 percent over the same period.
The dynastic wealth of the Walton family grew from $690 million in 1982 (or $1.81 billion in 2018 dollars) to $169.7 billion in 2018, a mind-numbing increase of 9,257 percent.
These dynastic families aggressively use their wealth and power to rig the political rules and preserve and expand their private wealth dynasties.
There are plenty of examples of wealthy individuals choosing not to build dynasties. Warren Buffett, the third-wealthiest person on the Forbes list, has pledged his entire fortune to charity and taxes.
Instead of lobbying for tax cuts, Buffett testified before Congress in favor of expanded estate taxation. "Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise," Buffett told the committee. "Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy."
"To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power."
To protect our democracy, we need to strengthen and expand taxes that reduce this concentration of wealth and power.
The federal estate tax has been significantly weakened, most recently through the 2017 Trump-Republican tax cut. Taxing inherited wealth as income would help break up current and future wealth dynasties.
The public should also rally to levy a modest tax on wealth over $20 million. A direct tax on wealth paid by the wealthiest one tenth of one percent could generate significant revenue to be reinvested in creating and restoring opportunities for low wealth households to prosper. A 1 percent annual tax on the wealthiest 0.1 percent of households, those with wealth over $20 million, would generate an estimated $1.899 trillion in revenue over the next decade, according to a forthcoming report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
In order to successfully implement these policies, the U.S. must also take leadership in advancing rules and global treaties that discourage aggressive wealth hiding and tax avoidance.
Great dynasties of wealth are unnatural in the United States. A century ago, ordinary Americans rose to the challenge to defend our democracy against plutocratic forces. It is time for us to answer the call again.
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