In 2024, wealth focus rose to an all-time excessive. In keeping with Forbes’ Billionaires Checklist, not solely are there extra billionaires than ever—2,781—however these billionaires are additionally richer than ever, with an mixture price of $14.2 trillion. It is a pattern that appears set to proceed unabated. A current report from the monetary information firm Altrata estimated that about 1.2 million people who’re price greater than $5 million will cross on a collective wealth of just about $31 trillion over the subsequent decade.
Discontentment and concern over the implications of utmost wealth in our society is rising. Senator Bernie Sanders, as an illustration, acknowledged that the “obscene stage of revenue and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly ethical challenge.” 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 in opposition to it, declaring that such a compensation stage was “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
In 2025, the battle in opposition to rising wealth inequality will probably 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 world “billionaire tax” that will levy a 2 p.c tax on belongings price 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 nations agreed that the tremendous wealthy needs to be taxed extra.
Progressive politicians gained’t be the one ones attempting to deal with this downside. In 2025, millionaires themselves will more and more mobilize and put strain 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 huge firms—who’ve benefited most from our nation’s belongings—ought to pay a bigger proportion of the tab for working the nation,” reads their worth assertion. Members embody 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 larger wealth taxation. Its most well-known member is the 32-year previous Marlene Engelhorn, descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, founding father of German pharma large BASF. She just lately arrange a council made up of fifty randomly chosen Austrian residents to resolve what ought to occur to her €25 million inheritance. “I’ve inherited a fortune, and due to this fact energy, with out having accomplished 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 known as Millionaires For Humanity shaped a coalition known as Proud to Pay Extra, and addressed a letter to world leaders throughout 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 acknowledged: “Everyone knows that ‘trickle down economics’ has not translated into actuality. As an alternative it has given us stagnating wages, crumbling infrastructure, failing public providers, 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 nations proud. Tax excessive wealth.” In 2025, because of the nascent motion of activist millionaires, these calls will develop even louder.