Not surprisingly, government taxation policy-- coming on top of low wage rates, corporate outsourcing, assaults on unions, and government subsidies for big business-- has resulted in rising economic inequality in the United States. By late 2025, the richest 1 percent of Americans possessed some $55 trillion in assets-- roughly equal to the wealth held by the bottom 90 percent. "Household wealth is highly concentrated and becoming steadily more concentrated," reported the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, a major financial research firm.
This rising economic inequality enhances the growing power of the wealthy in public affairs. Increasingly, in politics, big money talks-- and on behalf of Republicans. Federal election contributions from the nation's 100 richest Americans averaged $21 million between 2000 and 2010, but rose beyond $1 billion in 2024. In that year, contributions to Republicans surged from roughly $300 million to just under $1 billion, while donations to Democrats dropped from roughly $300 million to less than $200 million. A rightwing political party, led by a demagogic billionaire promising more tax cuts, proved irresistible.
By contrast, most Americans support proposals to raise taxes on the rich. According to a March 2025 Pew Research Center poll, large majorities of Americans surveyed favored increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations. In January 2026, an Economist/YouGov poll reported that 80 percent of American respondents viewed wealth inequality as a problem, 80 percent said the rich had too much political power, and 78 percent said taxes on billionaires were too low.
It's time to tax the rich. Or, as Pete Seeger used to sing: "Take it easy, but take it."
Lawrence S. Wittner (https://www.lawrenceswittner.com/ ) is Professor of History Emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of Confronting the Bomb (Stanford University Press).
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