Billionaires like Koch and Musk own our government now. Here’s how we take it back | Opinion
Billionaires were all over the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Kansas businessman Charles Koch’s super PAC more than tripled its donations to Donald Trump’s campaign — despite his supposed lamentations in 2020 about having spread partisanship in our politics. Elon Musk launched an evidently legal, million-dollar-a-day vote lottery targeted to Trump voters in swing states. His super PAC spent $200 million. Trump mega-donor Tim Mellon was not to be outdone. Billionaires blocked their newspapers endorsements of Kamala Harris.
Seventy-five percent of billionaire spending in the presidential election was in Trump’s favor. In his previous term, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which skewed disproportionately for billionaires — but has several key provisions that are set to expire in 2025. Now, these wealthy influencers want these perks to become permanent.
Billionaires do not only pull strings for presidential elections. We witnessed the impact of big money in the recent oustings of Cori Bush, the first Black woman from Missouri to serve in the House of Representatives, and New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Both these members of “the squad,” a progressive faction of the Democratic Party, were voted out by the spending power of the financial elite.
We need to intervene to protect our voting rights. We need a Koch-Musk Tax Act — a set of tax policies aimed specifically at the ultra rich — and we need it now.
Over the past several decades, the wealth of the top echelons of our socioeconomic system has skyrocketed. Millionaires and billionaires are multiplying. Many gained enormously from this election outcome. Meanwhile, median income in the United States hovers around $38,000 per year.
Wealthy pay low taxes on income, stock returns
There are many ways to translate the growing monstrosity of billionaires. Play with this online scrolling tool, which illustrates just how much money Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has. We can use time as reference: One million seconds is 12 days; 1 billion seconds is 31 years. Or think about the weight of ants: Elon Musk’s net worth is about $320 billion, according to Forbes. That many ants would weigh somewhere around 1,000 tons. The median worth of the average American is $192,900 — and that number of ants would be approximately 1.15 pounds.
It hasn’t always been this way. In 1944, we had a marginal tax rate of 94% for top earners. Currently, the wealthy pay low taxes on income and even lower rates on their stock market returns. They also take advantage of loopholes made by and for them to dodge taxes.
The efficiency of our government would improve with less extreme disproportional treatment of the top earners. When we justly tax the extreme wealth hoarders, we set up our government for success. Revenue gained by a comprehensive Koch-Musk Tax Act could enable our society to sustain itself more securely. We could become our own job creators. We could develop programs to alleviate devastating social problems, such as parental and youth mental health. We could pay teachers and other public service employees a living and competitive wage. We could provide higher education for all who want it. We could more efficiently remove lead from our drinking water and cinnamon. We could better support people caught up in substance abuse. We could create more livable cities that are easy to navigate. There are many ways to enhance our society with a fairly funded government.
To be sure, there will be those who defend the right of the ultra-wealthy to hoard their bounty. However, when we consider the legacies of white supremacy, patriarchy, intergenerational wealth and our government, we understand how billionaires have gotten boosts — not because they are more deserving of increased financial worth, but in part because of their ascribed identities and inherited wealth, properties of privilege they did nothing to earn. Eighty-eight percent of billionaires are men. Only 1% of American billionaires are Black. And don’t underestimate the role of inherited fortunes. Wealth begets wealth.
Taking a deep dive into the wealth accumulation of Musk, we learn that similar to the Koch empire’s government-subsidized gravy train, his empire has been amassed with the support of U.S. aid — billions from selling carbon credits and contracts with federal agencies.
Democracy must rein in power of richest
The magnitude of relative deprivation caused by a rapidly growing billionaire class is destructive. We need a three pronged strategy to tax the ultrarich now:
- We need a reasonable marginal tax rate on our top income earners. Experts recommend a rate of 79% on the top 1% of income earners.
- We need to increase the tax on dividends from stock sales, now set at a measly 20% to 23.8%, much less than the 37% to 40.8% rate that applies to standard income.
- We need a wealth tax. The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act of 2024, currently sitting in the House Committee on Ways and Means, proposes an annual wealth tax of 3% for those who have $1 billion. While a good start, we can do better. To be in the top 0.1%, one has accrued $1.5 billion. Even taxed at 30%, someone with $1.5 billion is still a billionaire.
Musk will head up a new bureaucracy charged with increasing government efficiency, but it is unlikely that he would cut the benefits he directly receives. We should all fear, and work to change, a system that allows such disproportionate accumulation of power. Why let the ultra-wealthy manipulate our democracy to their will when we have the will of the people?
As a baseline, we can contact our representatives and ask them to advocate for the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act of 2024. We can urge them to propose a Koch-Musk Tax Act, which includes progressive income tax on top earners, increased taxes on gains in stocks and a robust wealth tax. Let us act appropriately before we bend further to their will.
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 6:12 AM with the headline "Billionaires like Koch and Musk own our government now. Here’s how we take it back | Opinion."