Michael Bloomberg, (proper) founding father of Bloomberg LP, and Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, on the 10,000 Small Companies (1OKSB) Partnership Occasion in London on Dec. 14, 2016.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
On the identical time, most People have a love-hate relationship with excessive wealth.
“There’s a mounting disconnect,” the Harris report discovered: Six in 10 adults need to change into a billionaire someday. In the meantime, 40% mentioned they despise billionaires. Many additionally mentioned that billionaires have the duty to higher society however aren’t doing sufficient.
Because the wealthy get richer, 66% of adults see wealth inequality as a severe nationwide situation, and almost half of People, or 47%, imagine that there must be a restrict to wealth accumulation, the report additionally discovered.
A cellular billboard in Washington, D.C., calling for increased taxes on the ultra-wealthy depicts a picture of billionaire Jeff Bezos on Might 17, 2021.
Drew Angerer | Getty Pictures
Of these polled, 24% mentioned private wealth must be capped at lower than a $1 billion, whereas 20% mentioned it must be capped someplace between $1 billion and $10 billion.
There are roughly 200 individuals within the U.S. who’re at present value greater than $10 billion, based on Forbes’ annual rating of the richest individuals. Among the many prime 5, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Invoice Gates and Elon Musk are all value greater than $100 billion.
In the meantime, excessive wealth inequality was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, different experiences additionally present.
The richest People have continued to profit from proudly owning equities and actual property, significantly final 12 months when each the inventory market and residential values soared. As of the tip of 2021, the highest 1% owned a file 32.3% of the nation’s wealth.
On the flipside, the share of wealth held by the underside 90% of People fell since earlier than the pandemic, to 30.2% from 30.5%.
Within the Harris ballot, 58% of People have been resentful of wealth accumulation over this era, when others suffered from the monetary fallout introduced on by the sudden financial downturn.
“Proper now, the typical billionaire — there are about 790 of them or so in America — has a federal tax price of 8%,” Biden tweeted.
The “Billionaire Minimal Earnings Tax” would assess a 20% minimal tax price on U.S. households value greater than $100 million. Over half the income might come from these value greater than $1 billion.
However regardless of rising public assist for increased taxes on the ultra-wealthy, billionaire tax proposals have failed to achieve traction.
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