- The nation’s billionaires have seen their combined wealth skyrocket by nearly 62% over the past 17 months, and almost none of the $1.8 trillion gained by the nation’s wealthiest people will be taxed, unless Congress enacts progressive tax reforms.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk alone has raked in more than $150 billion since the onset of the pandemic, an “eye-popping” wealth surge of well over 600%.
- “The unconscionable growth in billionaire wealth through the misery of the pandemic is the clearest case I can imagine for the progressive tax reform working its way through Congress,” Frank Clemente said
Kenny Stancil from Common Dreams writes:
“The collective fortune of billionaires in the United States has ballooned by nearly two-thirds during the coronavirus pandemic, and almost none of the $1.8 trillion gained by a few hundred of the nation’s richest people over the past 17 months will be taxed unless Congress enacts progressive tax reforms.
That’s according to an analysis released Tuesday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), which found the number of billionaires in the U.S. grew from 614 on March 18, 2020 to 708 as of last week. The nation’s billionaires have seen their combined wealth skyrocket by nearly 62% over the past year and a half, from just under $3 trillion to almost $4.8 trillion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk alone has gained more than $150 billion since the pandemic struck, an “eye-popping” wealth surge of over 600%, researchers said. The top 15 U.S. billionaires are listed below, and the full table, based on data from Forbes, is available here.
The billionaire class is enjoying a massive windfall as working-class households are being crushed by Covid-19, which has killed more than 625,000 people and left millions jobless. And yet, “because the current tax code is riddled with loopholes and special breaks that allow the super wealthy to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” AFT and IPS noted in their new report, most of the $1.8 trillion in billionaire gains won’t be taxed—unless someone sells their assets or lawmakers unrig the tax system…”
See full story here.
Categories: Business, Government, Politics
Economic Left 
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