The Untaxed Empire: How the Ultra-Rich Dodge Billions While America Pays the Price

Billionaires build rockets. Teachers buy crayons with their own money.

Jun 10, 2025

The richest 0.1% of Americans (about 130,000 people) now hold more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. And most of that fortune? It’s barely taxed, if at all.

In a nation where millions work two jobs to survive while dynastic wealth remains untouched, we must ask the obvious question: What would happen if the rich actually paid what they owe? What if we taxed wealth, not just income, like the power it is?

This isn’t theory. Economists have crunched the numbers, lawmakers have proposed laws, and other wealthy nations are already doing it. The results are staggering.

A modest tax on America’s wealthiest households could raise hundreds of billions each year, enough to cancel student debt, fund universal childcare, or rebuild a decaying social safety net.

Wealth Snapshot

Top 0.1% hold more than 20% of U.S. wealth
Bottom 90% share just 27%
Most billionaire wealth is never taxed unless it’s sold, and often, not even then

The truth is simple: America doesn’t tax wealth because wealth controls America.

This is the story of how we got here, who benefits, what it costs the rest of us, and how we take it back.

It starts with the numbers: how much could we raise if the rich paid what they owe?

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How Much Could We Raise by Taxing Wealth?

For all the hand-wringing over budget deficits and “how we’ll pay for it,” the math is clear: America is overflowing with untaxed wealth. It’s just sitting in the wrong hands.

Economists have modeled exactly how much revenue could be generated by taxing the ultra-wealthy. The results aren’t just surprising; they’re transformative.

Wealth Tax Proposals on the Table

Elizabeth Warren’s Plan:
- 2% tax on net worth above $50 million
- 6% on wealth over $1 billion
- Estimated revenue: $375 billion/year
Bernie Sanders’ Plan:
- 1% starting above $32 million
- Up to 8% above $10 billion
- Estimated revenue: $435 billion/year

Even conservative estimates project $250–300 billion annually from taxing just the top 0.1%. That’s more than the entire corporate income tax currently raises each year.

Here’s the kicker: other countries are already doing this and doing it better.

What Other Countries Are Doing Right

Other nations tax wealth and capital, and they use the revenue to lift everyone up.

“Wealth taxes aren’t radical. What’s radical is protecting dynasties while half the country can’t afford rent.”
— Thomas Piketty

So why isn’t the U.S. doing this? To understand, we must examine who wrote the rules and why.

Why the U.S. Doesn’t Tax Wealth & Who Benefits

This system wasn’t broken. It was built this way:

1913: Income tax legalized
1916: Estate tax created to stop dynasties
1940s–70s: Top tax rates above 90%; inequality falls
1980s: Reagan cuts taxes for the rich; deregulation explodes
2000s–2020s: Buy-borrow-die becomes billionaire standard

What happened?

Wealthy donors funded think tanks, media outlets, and candidates
Tax cuts were sold as “job creation,” while public services were gutted
Loopholes became law, and enforcement was quietly dismantled

“There’s one group in America that never, ever talks about class warfare — until someone suggests taxing them fairly.”
— Robert Reich

But here’s the irony: all this panic over taxing wealth? The rich can easily afford it, and they know it.

Would This Actually Hurt the Rich? (Spoiler: No.)

Every time a wealth tax is proposed, defenders of billionaires erupt with panic: It’s class warfare! It’s socialism! It’ll destroy innovation!

The truth is far less dramatic. A modest tax on the ultra-wealthy means the rich would be slightly less rich, while the rest of the country would be profoundly better off.

A Tiny Slice of a Massive Pie

A billionaire with $5 billion in assets paying a 6% wealth tax would owe $300 million per year
That still leaves them with $4.7 billion
Their wealth typically grows faster than the tax rate anyway

Taxing wealth doesn’t shrink the pie; it just stops the top 0.1% from eating the whole thing.

The Real Wealth Play: Assets, Not Paychecks

The wealthy don’t live off salaries. They live off:

Stock portfolios
Private equity
Real estate
Trusts and shell companies

A schoolteacher pays taxes every paycheck. A billionaire? Often not at all.

This isn’t confiscation. It’s calibration.

Billionaires Admit It Themselves

“I pay a lower tax rate than my secretary — and that’s not fair.”
— Warren Buffett
“If you want me to pay more in taxes, just say the word.”
— Elon Musk

They know the system is rigged. They just hope you won’t do anything about it.

What they fear isn’t losing money. It’s losing leverage over markets, over politics, over you.

What We Could Do With That Money

A common refrain from the political class is, “We just can’t afford it,” but when billionaires go untaxed, that’s not a budget constraint. It’s a policy choice.

The truth? We don’t have a scarcity problem. We have a rigged tax code, written by and for the ultra-wealthy.

It doesn’t have to stay this way. If we rewrote the code, we could fund:

Universal Healthcare
- Estimated cost: ~$450 billion/year
  - A wealth tax alone could fully fund Medicare for All
  - End medical bankruptcies, out-of-pocket costs, and surprise bills
  - Imagine never having to crowdfund chemo again.
Cancel Student Debt & Fund Free Public College
- Estimated cost:
  - Cancel all current federal student debt: ~$1.7 trillion (one-time)
  - Tuition-free public college: ~$80–100 billion/year
  - One year of full wealth tax revenue could cancel all debt. Ongoing reforms could permanently fund future generations.
Universal Childcare & Paid Family Leave
- Estimated cost: ~$200 billion/year
Build Public Housing, Infrastructure & Clean Energy
- Estimated cost: ~$400–600 billion/year
- Fund climate resilience, construct millions of housing units, and create millions of jobs.
Enforce the Law (Yes, Even on the Rich)
- With just a tiny slice of wealth tax revenue, we could:
  - Hire 80,000+ IRS enforcement agents
  - Modernize audit systems
  - Go after real tax cheats, not single moms using TurboTax

These aren’t pipe dreams. They’re line items, and they’re waiting on a tax code built to serve the people.

Take Back the Tax Code

We’ve been told for decades that there's no money for healthcare, housing, or education, but that was a lie told by the richest people on Earth.

We need:

A federal wealth tax on billionaires
Capital gains reform to tax wealth like wages
A stronger estate tax to prevent dynasties
Full IRS enforcement funding
A financial transaction tax to rein in speculation

Call Your Representatives:

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Quick script:
“Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent. I’m calling to demand that [Rep/Senator’s Name] support a federal wealth tax, close capital gains loopholes, and fund the IRS to enforce tax laws on the ultra-wealthy.”

Join the Movement:

Taxing wealth isn’t radical. Letting billionaires pay nothing while you fund their yachts? That’s radical.

The money is there. The need is urgent. The moment is ours.