Billionaires now control 1 out of every 25 dollars of American wealth.

Over the past years in the U.S., everyday Americans have been increasingly crushedunder greed-driven inflation and debt, with homelessness hitting record highs. But as this modern affordability crisis has rocked households across the country, billionaire wealth has skyrocketed — and has now hit an all-time high, a new analysis reveals.

As of this month, the U.S.’s 806 billionaires are worth a collective $5.8 trillion, meaning that they control 1 in every 25 dollars of American wealth, according to an Americans for Tax Fairness report released Monday.

Due in part to the 2017 tax overhaul by Republicans, led by Donald Trump, this small group has seen an explosion of wealth in an extremely short amount of time.

Since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, U.S. billionaire wealth has doubled, from an already staggering $2.9 trillion. In 2017, none of the richest Americans were centi-billionaires, meaning that they did not have over $100 billion; now, the top 10 U.S. billionaires are all centi-billionaires, according to the report.

  • gassygiant@discuss.online
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    8 months ago

    A rule of thumb for invested money is that it doubles every 7 years. It’s possible that it’s more to do with time than the tax break. It was likely to happen anyway.

    On the other hand, billionaire wealth isn’t just invested moneys, it’s usually corporate fuckery.

    That said, let’s ACTUALLY tax the fuck out of it and put it to good use.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I don’t think an 80% tax rate is too much. Billionaires shouldn’t exist and now we’re moving closer to having a trillionaire.