Plutocrats $276 Billion Richer Since Trump’s Win—GOP Plans More Giveaways

A recent analysis revealed that the total wealth of the United States’ 815 billionaires increased by approximately $280 billion following Donald Trump’s recent presidential election win. This increase in wealth coincides with Republican efforts to pass significant tax reductions for wealthy individuals.

Based on data from Forbes, the group Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) reported that the collective net worth of these billionaires rose $276 billion from November 4, the day before the election, to November 12. Elon Musk, known as the richest man globally and a close associate of Trump, contributed to 20% of this wealth increase, with his net worth alone rising by $57 billion within just one week.

ATF highlighted that the wealth of U.S. billionaires has now reached a historic peak of $6.7 trillion. Despite this, Republican legislators are actively pursuing further tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens, proposing to fund these cuts by reducing Medicaid and federal programs for food assistance.

“One key part of the Republican tax relief proposals includes weakening or abolishing the estate tax, which is the federal government’s primary method for preventing the accumulation of inherited wealth,” ATF stated. “Evidence of this agenda is clear as the Republicans, now holding the majority in the U.S. Senate, have elected John Thune (R-S.D.), a staunch advocate for repealing the estate tax, as their leader.”

ATF noted that eliminating the estate tax would lead to savings of about $2.7 trillion for billionaire households, simultaneously stripping an equal amount from essential public services such as Medicare, childcare, education, and housing.

Since the controversial 2017 Trump-GOP tax cuts, which Republicans are aiming to extend and enhance, ATF reports that the wealth of U.S. billionaires has surged by $3.8 trillion, marking an increase of over 131%.

“Rather than tackling the increasing economic disparity and the shortfall in federal revenue, President Trump and the congressional Republicans are planning to exacerbate these issues with a new tax reduction package,” ATF expressed in a statement on Wednesday. “This plan is expected to begin by making permanent all the expiring measures from the 2017 Trump tax legislation, which will alone add $5 trillion to the federal debt over the next ten years. It will likely also include additional benefits for the ultra-rich, such as the abolition of the estate tax.”

During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised similar concerns about the Trump-GOP tax strategy, which also proposes lowering the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%.

“President-elect Trump is pushing to make every single 2017 tax cut for the affluent permanent,” Warren stated during the hearing. “He intends to go even further by decreasing the corporate tax rate even more, allowing large corporations that are already profiting immensely from the American public to funnel even more money to their wealthy executives and shareholders.”

“The battle over taxes begins now, and every senator, every American, needs to decide whose interests we represent,” Warren declared. “Are we going to approve more tax breaks for President-elect Trump’s billionaire friends, or will we advocate for a tax system that is fair for all Americans?”