The 18 wealthiest Americans now own 1.25% of all US wealth — a share 10 times as large as in 1982

(Source: http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/SaezZucman2020JEP.pdf)

With an 8% annual wealth tax for deca-billionaires (as proposed by Bernie Sanders), these 18 taxpayers alone would pay about $100 billion in taxes a year

This is enough to fully fund a universal child allowance of $120/month

Of course by taxing more than 18 people it's possible to get a more generous child allowance, say $300/month per child (with large effects on poverty reduction)

Would love to see how a billionaire wealth tax + child allowance combo polls

But wait, by taxing wealth at 8%, don't you ultimately destroy the tax base?

Billionaire wealth has been growing at 8% a year on average since 1982, so under business as usual, with an 8% wealth tax you are merely stabilizing their wealth — not cutting it.

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