As contenders in the Democratic primary for the 2020 US presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have promised to impose new taxes on the super-wealthy. Warren’s wealth-tax proposal — a levy of 2% on every dollar of net worth above US$50 million ($68 million), rising to 6% for fortunes greater than US$1 billion — has ruffled billionaires’ feathers. According to Gates, he has paid more in taxes than almost anybody — some US$10 billion. And while he would consider it “fine” if that figure had been doubled to US$20 billion, he believes a much higher tax would threaten the incentive system that led him (and others) to invest in the first place.
(Dec 13): Economic inequality has moved to the top of the political agenda in many countries, including free-market poster children such as the US and the UK. The issue is mobilising the left and causing headaches on the right, where wealth has long been viewed as worthy of celebration, not as demanding justification.
But today’s concentrations of wealth do demand justification. In 2018, Forbes listed three billionaires among its top 10 most powerful people in the world. Next to heads of states such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one finds not only the Pope, but also Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Google co-founder Larry Page. All three owe their power not to public position or spiritual influence but to private wealth.
