In 2024, the accumulation of wealth increased to a peak. According to the Forbes Billionaires List, not only are there more billionaires than ever—2,781—but those billionaires are also richer than ever, with a net worth of $14.2 trillion. This is a trend that looks set to continue unabated. A recent report by financial data firm Altrata estimated that nearly 1.2 million people worth more than $5 billion will pass on a combined fortune of nearly $31 billion over the next decade.
Discontent and concern about the effects of excessive wealth on our society is growing. For example, Senator Bernie Sanders, said that “the obscene level of income and wealth inequality in America is a deep moral problem.” In a joint CNN interview in 2023, Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee and Disney heiress Abigail Disney wrote that “extreme wealth inequality is dangerous to our economy and democracy.” In 2024, when Tesla’s board voted to pay Elon Musk $56 billion, some major shareholders voted against it, saying the level of such compensation was “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
By 2025, tackling rising wealth inequality will be high on the political agenda. In July 2024, the G20—the world’s 20 largest economies—agreed to work on Brazil’s proposal to introduce a global “billionaires’ tax” that would levy a 2 percent tax on assets over $1 billion. This would raise an estimated $250 billion a year. Although this proposal was not endorsed in the Rio declaration, the G20 countries agreed that the super rich should be taxed more.
Progressive politicians will not be the only ones trying to fix this problem. In 2025, the millionaires themselves will unite and pressure the political leaders. One such organization is the Patriotic Millionaires, a non-partisan group of multi-millionaires who have already publicly campaigned and privately lobbied the American Congress for a guaranteed living wage for all, a fairer tax system, and equal representation protections. “Millionaires and big corporations—who have benefited greatly from our country’s wealth—should pay a larger share of the cost of running the country,” their value statement reads. Members include Abigail Disney, former BlackRock executive Morris Pearl, legal scholar Lawrence Lessig, screenwriter Norman Lear, and investor Lawrence Benenson.
Another example is TaxMeNow, a lobby group founded in 2021 by young millionaires in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland who also advocate a higher wealth tax. Its most famous member is 32-year-old Marlene Engelhorn, a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of the German pharmaceutical company BASF. He recently established a council made up of 50 randomly selected Austrian citizens to decide what should happen to his 25 million euro estate. “I have gained wealth, and therefore power, without doing anything for myself,” he said in a statement. “If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute, then I have to redistribute my wealth too.”
Earlier this year, Patriotic Millionaires, TaxMeNow, Oxfam, and another activist group called Millionaires For Humanity formed a coalition called Proud to Pay More, writing to world leaders during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Signed by hundreds of high-net-worth individuals—including wife Valerie Rockefeller, actor Simon Pegg, and filmmaker Richard Curtis—the letter said: “We all know that ‘trickle down economics’ never materialized.” Instead it has given us stagnant wages, crumbling infrastructure, failing government services, and undermined the institution of democracy.” It concluded: “We ask you to take this necessary and unavoidable step before it is too late.” Make your countries proud. A tax on excessive wealth.” In 2025, thanks to the emerging movement of activist activists, these calls will increase significantly.
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