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It Is Time to Levy a One-Time Pandemic Wealth Tax on Billionaires’ Windfall Gains

How we face this extraordinary inequality is the ultimate test of what kind of country we are and what we will become.
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Nothing symbolizes the inequality of sacrifice during the COVID-19 pandemic more than watching a few hundred billionaires gain while everyone else struggles through job losses, debilitating illness, or death.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 32 million have lost their jobs. U.S. households lost an estimated $6.5 trillion in wealth during the first quarter of 2020 alone.

But billionaire wealth is surging. Since March 18, the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, the 467 U.S. billionaires have seen their wealth increase by over $730 billion, or 30%, according to an analysis of Forbes data by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies.

Read the full article at MarketWatch.

Originally in MarketWatch.

For press inquiries, contact IPS Deputy Communications Director Olivia Alperstein at olivia@ips-dc.org. For recent press statements, visit our Press page.

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