Taxing Extreme Wealth

There is only one short- or near-term policy to curb extreme wealth—tax policy.

For decades, a rigged tax system has allowed a massive accumulation of wealth by the top 0.1% of U.S. households, totaling something on the order of $40 trillion.

Most of the problems our nation faces are the direct result of extreme wealth inequality. We can begin to address these problems with effective tax policies that a) slow the accumulation of wealth through the income surtax and changes to the charitable tax deduction; b) reduce the amount of accumulated wealth with wealth taxes; and c) prevent extreme wealth from passing down to future generations, with reforms to the trust and estate tax laws.

Of course, tax policy changes also require enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in order to audit households that evade taxes, and to ensure that new legislation designed to curb extreme wealth is correctly implemented. But funding for the IRS has been severely cut back in recent years and must be restored.

We call the bucket of taxes laser-focused to reduce extreme wealth the URTs—ultra-rich taxes. Read more about them:

• Income Surtax
• Estate Tax
• Wealth Tax
• Charitable Tax Deduction