As a general rule, it’s safe to assume most people do not want to be taxed more. And while every rule has an exception, I was caught off guard–both as a wealthy person and the great-grandson of meatpacker Oscar Mayer–by what I learned from a recent survey of the ultra-rich.
The eye-popping new polling from Survation, conducted on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires, challenges our understanding of who supports taxing billionaires and the ultra-wealthy. The survey was conducted in December and gauged the sentiments of individuals in G20 countries who have more than $1 million in investable assets. To put it lightly, the results were extraordinary.
A full 75% of respondents–again, all of which are wealthy by any reasonable measure–support introducing a 2% wealth tax on billionaires, as proposed by the EU Tax Observatory in October 2023. And 74% support higher taxes on wealth to help address the cost of living crisis and improve public services. 72% think that extreme wealth helps buy political influence, and 54% think that extreme wealth is a threat to democracy itself.