Whereas the wealthiest enterprise leaders from U.S. president Donald Trump to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang contact down within the Swiss city of Davos to debate the state of the world, a cohort of the ultra-rich are already sounding the alarm. Lots of of millionaires and billionaires launched an open letter in time for the World Financial Discussion board, calling on leaders attending the convention to combat raging wealth inequality with taxes.
“Millionaires like us refuse to be silent. It’s time to be counted. Tax us and ensure the following fifty years meet the promise of progress for everybody,” the letter said.
“Excessive wealth has led to excessive management for individuals who gamble with our secure future for his or her obscene beneficial properties. Now could be the time to finish that management and win again our future.”
To date, practically 400 millionaires and billionaires throughout 24 international locations have signed the letter condemning excessive wealth, together with the likes of Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo, Disney heirs Abby and Tim Disney, and actual property developer Jeffrey Gural.
The open letter is a part of a “Time to Win” marketing campaign, led by wealth redistribution organizations together with Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity, and Oxfam. It criticized international oligarchs with riches who’ve “purchased up” democracies, exacerbated poverty, stifled tech innovation, dampened press freedom, and total, “accelerated the breakdown of our planet.” In spite of everything, 77% of millionaires from G20 nations assume extraordinarily rich people purchase political affect, and 71% imagine these with riches can considerably affect elections, in keeping with a ballot carried out for Patriotic Millionaires.
The Time to Win rich signatories provide a easy resolution: “Tax us. Tax the tremendous wealthy.”
“As millionaires who stand shoulder to shoulder with all individuals, we demand it,” the open letter continued. “And as our elected representatives—whether or not it’s these of you at Davos, native councillors, metropolis mayors, or regional leaders—it’s your responsibility to ship it.
Stars and billionaires are calling out the super-rich for being ungenerous
Because the world mints lots of of hundreds of millionaires yearly and billionaire wealth soars to report highs, some leaders can’t stand to remain quiet. Celebrities and the ultra-rich haven’t simply despatched a message to money-hoarders with the Time to Win letter—some have even known as out billionaires in particular person, questioning their existence.
“Should you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, however yeah, give your cash away, shorties,” Eilish mentioned onstage final 12 months on the WSJ Journal Innovator Awards with Meta mogul Mark Zuckerberg, price $214 billion, in attendance.
Even essentially the most philanthropic members of the ultra-rich membership are cautious of their friends’ lack of charity. Billionaires have began their very own initiatives like Warren Buffett, Melinda French Gates, and Invoice Gates’ The Giving Pledge, which attracted greater than 250 billionaires who pledged to donate at the least half of their wealth throughout their lifetimes, or of their wills. However efforts have largely fallen quick. Final 12 months, French Gates admitted that the signatories haven’t given sufficient; And in a letter to shareholders, Buffett fessed as much as the truth that billionaires aren’t following by way of.
“Early on, I contemplated varied grand philanthropic plans. Although I used to be cussed, these didn’t show possible,” Buffett wrote. “Throughout my a few years, I’ve additionally watched ill-conceived wealth transfers by political hacks, dynastic selections, and, sure, inept or quirky philanthropists.”
Billionaire and millionaire wealth is on the rise
There’s extra individuals rolling in riches than ever earlier than, and it’s fueling an fairness disaster on the backside of the financial ladder.
In 2024 alone, the U.S. minted 379,000 new millionaires—over 1,000 millionaires each day—because the proportion of People within the ultrawealthy membership swelled by 1.5%, in keeping with a 2025 report from funding financial institution UBS. This cohort held about $107 trillion in complete wealth on the finish of that 12 months: greater than 4 occasions the quantity they owned on the flip of the millennium.
In 2000, there have been solely 13.27 million on a regular basis millionaires, however by the tip of 2024, the group swelled to 52 million individuals worldwide.
Whereas it would seem that eye-watering riches are spreading out to a bigger variety of people, it’s primarily concentrating on the prime. America’s prime 20% family earners—averaging a internet price of $4.3 million—accounted for about 71% of the U.S.’s complete wealth on the finish of 2024, in keeping with 2025 information from the Federal Reserve.
In the meantime, the underside half of American households, averaging about $60,000 in wealth, owned simply 2.5% of the nation’s wealth. For the overwhelming majority of U.S. residents, becoming a member of the millionaire membership—and much more so, the billionaire membership—is a complete pipe dream.
