As a general rule, it’s safe to assume most people do not want to be taxed more. And while every rule has an exception, I was caught off guard–both as a wealthy person and the great-grandson of meatpacker Oscar Mayer–by what I learned from a recent survey of the ultra-rich.
The eye-popping new polling from Survation, conducted on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires, challenges our understanding of who supports taxing billionaires and the ultra-wealthy. The survey was conducted in December and gauged the sentiments of individuals in G20 countries who have more than $1 million in investable assets. To put it lightly, the results were extraordinary.
A full 75% of respondents–again, all of which are wealthy by any reasonable measure–support introducing a 2% wealth tax on billionaires, as proposed by the EU Tax Observatory in October 2023. And 74% support higher taxes on wealth to help address the cost of living crisis and improve public services. 72% think that extreme wealth helps buy political influence, and 54% think that extreme wealth is a threat to democracy itself.
Perhaps the most extraordinary finding is that 58% support the introduction of a 2% wealth tax on people with more than $10 million. That is to say, broadly speaking, themselves.
These numbers might not be so surprising if they were not the opinions of the ultra-wealthy. As a member of the Oscar Mayer family and someone who inherited significant wealth, I understand that my voice is unique in this space. Yet, this polling demonstrates that I am firmly in the majority with my wealthy peers when it comes to wanting to pay higher taxes.
So if the ultra-rich (not to mention the overwhelming majority of the general public) support additional taxes on themselves, why have global leaders thus far declined–or refused–to take action? It’s not as if they’re unaware of the problem.
Along with nearly 250 other millionaires and billionaires, I recently signed an open letter calling on world leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland to increase taxes on wealthy people. Some prominent signatories include Abigail Disney, Brian Cox, Richard Curtis, Simon Pegg, and Valerie Rockefeller. The letter, entitled Proud to Pay More, demands that global leaders take swift action “to tax us, the very richest in society. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm our nations’ economic growth. But it will turn extreme and unproductive private wealth into an investment for our common democratic future.”
The letter goes on to say, “Every moment of delay entrenches the dangerous economic status quo, threatens our democratic norms, and passes the buck to our children and grandchildren.”
We’ve long known that the status quo is destabilizing our economies and democracies. We’ve also long understood that the antidote to these twin challenges is taxation. Tax law may be boring, but it’s not rocket science.
The immediate effects of our current economic status quo and extraordinary wealth concentration are perhaps most acutely felt in our elections. Across the globe, populism is on the march. Extremist demagogues take advantage of stagnant economic systems–systems that advantage the rich while enabling them to escape their civic duty–by channeling general frustration into popular support. History is always instructive: the consequences of leaving populist demagogues unchallenged are disastrous.
2024 will see at least 50 elections around the world, involving more than 2 billion voters, with enormous consequences for the fate of democracies. Thankfully, we already have the silver bullet we need to protect our democratic institutions and build an equitable economy: taxing extreme wealth. The only thing we lack is the political will to act. Even millionaires and billionaires like myself are saying it’s time to address the greatest concentration of wealth since the Gilded Age.
There is reason to be hopeful. Critically, Brazil has assumed the presidency of the G20 this year. With the presidency comes the power to set the agenda for the G20 summit in November. Brazilian President Lula da Silva has committed to adding international tax mechanisms to the agenda, creating an opportunity for the largest global economies to act in concert on tackling extreme wealth. It is a promising start.
But we cannot wait much longer. I hope the elites gathering in Davos take the warnings of millionaires and billionaires seriously. Pressure is building in the form of extreme populist politics. If we don’t act soon, we will ultimately hand the initiative to enemies of democracy, and the results will undoubtedly be grim.
Chuck Collins is the great-grandson of the meatpacker Oscar Mayer and a co-founding member of the Patriotic Millionaires. He serves as the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org.
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