In 2024, wealth concentration reached an all-time high. According Forbes Billionaires ListNot only are there more billionaires than ever (2,781), but those billionaires are also richer than ever, with an aggregate value of $14.2 trillion. This is a trend that looks set to continue unabated. TO recent report from financial data company Altrata estimated that around 1.2 million people worth more than $5 million will inherit collective wealth of nearly $31 trillion over the next decade.
Discontent and concern about the consequences of extreme wealth in our society are increasing. Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, stated that “The obscene level of income and wealth inequality in the United States is a deeply moral issue.“In a joint op-ed for CNN In 2023, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Disney heiress Abigail Disney wrote that “extreme wealth inequality is a threat to our economy and democracy.” In 2024, when Tesla’s board voted on a $56 billion pay package for Elon Musk, some major shareholders voted against it, declaring that level of compensation “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
In 2025, the fight against growing wealth inequality will be high on the political agenda. In July 2024, the G20 (the world’s 20 largest economies) agreed to work on a proposal from Brazil to introduce a new “multi-million dollar tax“That would impose a 2 percent tax on assets valued at more than $1 billion. This would raise approximately $250 billion a year. While this specific proposal was not endorsed in the Rio declaration, the G20 countries agreed that the super rich should pay more taxes.
Progressive politicians won’t be the only ones trying to address this problem. In 2025, millionaires themselves will increasingly mobilize and put pressure on political leaders. One of those movements is Patriotic millionairesa nonpartisan group of billionaires who are already campaigning publicly and privately lobbying the US Congress for a guaranteed living wage for all, a fair tax system, and the protection of equal representation. “Millionaires and large corporations, who have benefited most from our country’s assets, should foot a larger percentage of the bill to run the country.” reads its value statement. Members include Abigail Disney, former BlackRock executive Morris Pearl, jurist Lawrence Lessig, screenwriter Norman Lear and investor Lawrence Benenson.
Another example is Taxes nowa pressure group founded in 2021 by young billionaires in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that also advocates for greater wealth taxation. Its most famous member is Marlene Engelhorn, 32, a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, founder of the German pharmaceutical giant BASF. He recently created a council of 50 randomly selected Austrian citizens to decide what should happen to his €25 million inheritance. “I have inherited a fortune and, therefore, power, without having done anything for it,” he said in a statement. “If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute, then I’ll have to redistribute my wealth myself.”
Earlier this year, Patriotic Millionaires, TaxMeNow, Oxfam and another activist group called Millionaires for humanity formed a coalition called Proud to Pay More, and addressed a letter to world leaders during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Signed by hundreds of high-net-worth individuals, including heiress Valerie Rockefeller, actor Simon Pegg and filmmaker Richard Curtis, the letter said: “We all know that ‘trickle-down economics’ has not translated into reality. Instead, it has given us stagnant wages, crumbling infrastructure, poor public services, and destabilized the very institution of democracy.” It concluded: “We ask you to take this necessary and inevitable step before it is too late. Make your countries proud. Tax extreme wealth.” In 2025, thanks to the budding movement of millionaire activists, these calls will be even stronger.