Impact
The Problem
Wealth inequality has been exploding for years, but we’re now at a tipping point where the consequences can no longer be denied. The billionaires who rallied behind Trump are using their power inside the administration to destroy consumer protections and gut worker rights and leveraging their political clout to advance tax policy that would only grow their wealth.
Concentrations of excessive wealth are fueling the climate and affordability crises, and we are witnessing our democracy crumble in real-time at the hands of lawless billionaires. To take back our economy and our democracy while protecting our planet, we must tax these greedy billionaires now.
ECONOMY
After forty years it might be time to admit it: trickle down economics doesn’t work. Extreme wealth doesn’t spread itself around; it concentrates power and stagnates growth. As the billionaires tighten their grip on our economy it becomes harder for the rest of us to even make ends meet, let alone thrive.
The widening chasm between the ultra-wealthy and working families has a tangible impact on our quality of life. Billionaire investors are on track to own 7.6 million single-family rental homes by 2030, locking families out of affordable homes by driving up housing costs and buying up properties before you can even put in an offer. Private equity takeovers of nursing homes and emergency rooms are driving up healthcare costs by 32% as patient suffering increases.
When a small group of people hold most of the wealth, it hurts the whole economy. Businesses see fewer customers since most people are just getting by, so they cut back on jobs and growth. The result? The economy stalls because money isn’t flowing through society – it’s trapped at the top with wealthy people who can’t spend it all.
Billionaire investors are on track to own 7.6 million single-family rental homes by 2030
150 billionaire families donated at least $1.9 billion to PACs and super PACs during the 2024 election.
DEMOCRACY
The way the rich have captured our politics has never been more in-your-face than in the first months of the second Trump administration. Right now the world’s richest man has staged a hostile takeover of the government and is tearing through the federal workforce, rolling back safeguards and kneecapping watchdogs while further lining his own pockets. This is the natural endgame of a system that has, for decades, let the ultra-wealthy use their privilege to directly influence our politicians and shift the levers of power even more in their favor.
150 billionaire families donated at least $1.9 billion to PACs and super PACs during the 2024 election. After Trump won re-election they tripped over themselves, donating millions to curry favor with the incoming administration and publicly supporting his policies and priorities. Now, Trump’s proposed tax plan stands to save the wealthiest 5% of Americans an average of $36,000 per year, while at the same time raising taxes for the working class and even the poorest 20% of Americans.
This disparity has the run-on effect of causing American citizens to grow disillusioned with our democracy. According to the Pew Research Center’s Public Trust in Government report, only 22% of Americans say they trust the government to do what’s right for them. That’s down from 75% in the 1960s.
150 billionaire families donated at least $1.9 billion to PACs and super PACs during the 2024 election.
CLIMATE
Climate change is an existential threat for our country and our world as natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, and wildfires grow more frequent and more deadly. The Big Oil billionaires are the obvious villains on this front, but many of the ultra-rich amassed their wealth through high-emissions businesses. In fact, just 57 companies were responsible for 80% of carbon dioxide emissions from 2016 to 2022.
During the presidential campaign, Trump promised Big Oil massive tax breaks, anti-environmental deregulation, and expanded oil drilling. The fossil fuel industry donated nearly $23 million to Trump and the PACs supporting him – and their investment is already paying off. During his inauguration, Trump promised we would “drill baby, drill” and one day into his presidency 15 Big Oil billionaires saw their combined wealth increase by $3.31 billion.
Individual emissions are a drop in the bucket compared to the havoc wreaked by these extractive industries, but the wealthy are outdoing us on that front, too. Researchers have determined that someone’s level of wealth is actually the best predictor of their level of pollution – the richer they are, the worse their impact. Those private jet rides and yacht parties don’t come without a cost to the rest of us.
How big is the disparity? The average person’s carbon emissions in a single year is about six tons. The top 1% don’t just double that, or even triple or quadruple it… they emit 101 tons per year. And the solution isn’t to just plant more trees – it would take 4,600 mature trees a year of hard work to absorb all that. Despite this disproportionate abuse of our climate, the ultra-rich donate just 0.04% of their assets to environmental charities.
Just 57 companies were responsible for 80% of carbon dioxide emissions from 2016 to 2022.
FURTHER READING
- “Billionaire Clans Spend Nearly $2 BILLION On 2024 Elections”
Americans For Tax Fairness, 10/29/2024 - “A Distributional Analysis of Donald Trump’s Tax Plan”
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 10/7/2024
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