Michael Bloomberg, (right) founder of Bloomberg LP, and Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group, at the 10,000 Small Business (1OKSB) partnership event in London on December 14, 2016.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Mixed feelings about extreme wealth
At the same time, most Americans have a love-hate relationship with extreme wealth.
“There’s a growing disconnect,” the Harris Report found: Six in 10 adults want to be a billionaire someday. Meanwhile, 40% said they despise billionaires. Many also said that billionaires have a responsibility to improve society, but they don’t do enough.
As the rich get richer66% of adults consider wealth inequality a serious national problem, and nearly half of Americans, or 47%, think there should be a limit to the accumulation of wealth, according to the report.
A mobile billboard in Washington, DC calling for higher taxes for the ultra-rich features an image of billionaire Jeff Bezos on May 17, 2021.
Drew Anger | Getty Images
Of those polled, 24% said personal wealth should be capped at less than $1 billion, while 20% said it should be capped between $1 billion and $10 billion.
There are about 200 people in the United States who are currently worth more than $10 billion, according to Forbes’ annual ranking of the richest people. Of the top five, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Elon Musk are all worth over $100 billion.
Meanwhile, extreme wealth inequality has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, other reports also show.
Wealthier Americans continued to benefit from owning stocks and real estate, especially last year when the stock market and home values soared. At the end of 2021, top 1% possessed a record 32.3% of the national wealth.
On the other hand, the share of wealth held by the bottom 90% of Americans has fallen since before the pandemic, from 30.5% to 30.2%.
In the Harris Poll, 58% of Americans were unhappy with the accumulation of wealth during this period, while others suffered from the financial fallout caused by the sudden economic downturn.
Tax support for ultra-rich earnings
“Right now the average billionaire — there are about 790 in America — has an 8% federal tax rate,” Biden said. tweeted.
The Billionaires Minimum Income Tax would assess a minimum tax rate of 20% on U.S. households worth more than $100 million. More than half of the revenue could come from those worth over $1 billion.
But despite growing public support for increase in taxes on the ultra-richthe tax proposals of the billionaires have failed to gain ground.