The Harm
America’s Billionaire Problem
Wealth inequality has been exploding for years, and the consequences can no longer be denied. The billionaires rallying behind Trump are using their power inside the administration to destroy consumer protections, gut worker rights, and rig tax policy to grow their fortunes.
Extreme wealth is fueling the climate and affordability crises, and our democracy is crumbling in real time at the hands of lawless billionaires. To take back our economy, our democracy, and 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
300 billionaires contributed nearly 19% of all federal campaign contributions in 2024.
DEMOCRACY
Beyond a certain threshold, extreme wealth ceases to be a private matter and becomes a public threat. In a democratic society, our responsibility is to build a system that corrects this policy failure—not to punish the ultra-wealthy, but to prevent a tiny elite from wielding coercive power over everyone else’s lives.
Just look at Elon Musk, who secured unprecedented influence within the Trump White House after donating more than $250 million to Donald Trump and other Republicans. During his tenure atop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk appears to have leveraged his power to benefit his businesses on dozens of occasions while receiving markedly favorable treatment from federal agencies, which ended regulatory actions that threatened Musk’s companies with $2.3 billion in potential liabilities.
Musk may be the most flamboyant billionaire to use his money and power to shape policy outcomes in his favor, but he’s certainly not alone. 300 billionaires contributed nearly 19% of all federal campaign contributions in 2024. Five elections ago, that share was 0.3%. Billionaire political spending has risen 160-fold since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed for unlimited independent political spending by outside groups and led to the rise of super PACs funded by the ultra-rich.
Billionaires’ investment in the 2024 elections paid off handsomely with the passage of Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. More than 70 percent of the net tax cuts in that bill will benefit the richest fifth of Americans in 2026, while the richest 1 percent will receive an average net tax cut of $66,000. And the payoff isn’t just in tax breaks. Industries like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, which funneled millions to influence the 2024 election and where billionaire donors are heavily invested, are now enjoying deregulation and favorable legislation and executive orders. (Public safety and economic stability be damned!)
300 billionaires contributed nearly 19% of all federal campaign contributions in 2024.
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 his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump gathered oil and gas executives to Mar-a-Lago for a lavish dinner and offered them a deal: if they gave money to his campaign, they would see an incredible return on investment as he stripped away taxes and regulations for the fossil fuel industry. Trump has been making good on that deal since his inauguration day promise to “drill baby, drill,” which he followed up with policies that include $18 billion in new and expanded tax incentives for the oil and gas industry. The war in Iran stands to benefit these wealthy few even further.
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.
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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