In 2024, wealth focus rose to an all-time excessive. In line with Forbes’ Billionaires Listing, not solely are there extra billionaires than ever—2,781—however these billionaires are additionally richer than ever, with an mixture value of $14.2 trillion. It is a pattern that appears set to proceed unabated. A current report from the monetary knowledge firm Altrata estimated that about 1.2 million people who’re value greater than $5 million will move on a collective wealth of just about $31 trillion over the subsequent decade.
Discontentment and concern over the implications of maximum wealth in our society is rising. Senator Bernie Sanders, as an illustration, said that the “obscene degree of earnings and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly ethical subject.” In a joint op-ed for CNN in 2023, Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee and Disney heiress Abigail Disney wrote that “excessive wealth inequality is a risk to our economic system and democracy.” In 2024, when the board of Tesla put to vote a $56 billion pay package deal for Elon Musk, some main shareholders voted towards it, declaring that such a compensation degree was “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
In 2025, the battle towards rising wealth inequality will likely be excessive on the political agenda. In July 2024, the G20—the world’s 20 largest economies—agreed to work on a proposal by Brazil to introduce a brand new international “billionaire tax” that might levy a 2 % tax on property value greater than $1 billion. This may increase an estimated $250 billion a yr. Whereas this particular proposal was not endorsed within the Rio declaration, the G20 international locations agreed that the tremendous wealthy must be taxed extra.
Progressive politicians gained’t be the one ones making an attempt to handle this drawback. In 2025, millionaires themselves will more and more mobilize and put stress on political leaders. One such motion is Patriotic Millionaires, a nonpartisan group of multimillionaires who’re already publicly campaigning and privately lobbying the American Congress for a assured residing wage for all, a good tax system, and the safety of equal illustration. “Millionaires and enormous firms—who’ve benefited most from our nation’s property—ought to pay a bigger proportion of the tab for working the nation,” reads their worth assertion. Members embrace Abigail Disney, former BlackRock government Morris Pearl, authorized scholar Lawrence Lessig, screenwriter Norman Lear, and investor Lawrence Benenson.
One other instance is TaxMeNow, a foyer group based in 2021 by younger multimillionaires in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland which additionally advocates for greater wealth taxation. Its most well-known member is the 32-year outdated Marlene Engelhorn, descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, founding father of German pharma big BASF. She just lately arrange a council made up of fifty randomly chosen Austrian residents to determine what ought to occur to her €25 million inheritance. “I’ve inherited a fortune, and subsequently energy, with out having completed something for it,” she stated in a press release. “If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute, then I’ve to redistribute my wealth myself.”
Earlier this yr, Patriotic Millionaires, TaxMeNow, Oxfam, and one other activist group referred to as Millionaires For Humanity shaped a coalition referred to as Proud to Pay Extra, and addressed a letter to international leaders in the course of the annual gathering of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos. Signed by lots of of high-net-worth people—together with heiress Valerie Rockefeller, actor Simon Pegg, and filmmaker Richard Curtis—the letter said: “Everyone knows that ‘trickle down economics’ has not translated into actuality. As an alternative it has given us stagnating wages, crumbling infrastructure, failing public companies, and destabilized the very establishment of democracy.” It concluded: “We ask you to take this obligatory and inevitable step earlier than it’s too late. Make your international locations proud. Tax excessive wealth.” In 2025, due to the nascent motion of activist millionaires, these calls will develop even louder.
