The 10 richest Americans got $365 billion richer in the past year. Now they're on the verge of a huge tax cut

CNN

21-05-2025

Despite a brief market scare, the richest 10 Americans got $365 billion richer over the past year, according to a new analysis from Oxfam.
The stunning increase in wealth amounts to a gain of roughly $1 billion per day for those billionaires.
By contrast, the typical American worker made just over $50,000 in 2023. Oxfam found that it would take a staggering 726,000 years for 10 US workers at median earnings to make that much money.
The findings put an exclamation point on the nation's wealth inequality and come as Republicans debate a costly bill that could make the rich even richer and deeply cut into key safety net programs.
'Billionaire wealth has increased astronomically while so many ordinary people struggle to make ends meet,' Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic and racial justice at Oxfam America, said in the report.
To measure the gains of the richest, Oxfam measured the estimated wealth shifts of the top 10 on the Forbes Real Time Billionaire List between the end of April 2024 and the end of April 2025.
Elon Musk, the world's richest person and CEO of Tesla, accounts for just over half of the total wealth gains, with his net worth spiking by $186.1 billion over that span. An analysis last fall found that Musk, a pivotal figure in President Donald Trump's return to the White House, is on track to become the world's first trillionaire.
The net worths of Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Walmart heir Rob Walton increased by $38.7 billion apiece. Legendary investor Warren Buffett gained $34.8 billion in wealth, while Walmart heir Jim Walton gained $36.5 billion.
Oxfam argues that the Republican bill, a legislative priority of Trump, would further stack the deck against ordinary people in favor of the most affluent.
'We're seeing a tax code being designed that would bring about the world's first trillionaire,' Riddell said.
Some progressives have called for fighting inequality by imposing a wealth tax on ultra-millionaires and billionaires. Oxfam found that a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion would raise $50 billion from the 10 richest Americans alone – enough to provide food assistance for one year to 22.5 million people.
Of course, taxing wealth would be very challenging, in part because it can be hard to value net worth. And some legal scholars have questioned whether a wealth tax is even constitutional.
Lawmakers are debating whether and how to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump's signature tax law. The bill that has advanced in the House would make permanent essentially all of the individual income tax breaks from the 2017 law and temporarily cut taxes on tips and overtime.
The legislation would increase the nation's economic output, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), by 0.5% in 10 years and 1.7% in 30 years, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Those economic gains would be fueled by higher savings and labor supply, incentivized by a weaker social safety net, Penn Wharton found.
The bill's gains would go disproportionately to the rich, according to the analysis. The top 10% of earners would receive about two-thirds (65%) of the total value of the legislation, while households in the bottom 20% would lose about $1,035 in 2026 due to cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other changes, according to Penn Wharton.
Kent Smetters, professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told CNN that the top 10% of households would get about $3.1 trillion worth of tax cuts over 10 years. Smetters, who runs the Penn Wharton Budget Model, noted that the US tax system is 'very progressive,' with the same group paying about 70% of all federal income and payroll taxes.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said the GOP bill is a 'giveaway' for the rich.
'Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are trying to jam through massive tax giveaways for the wealthiest Americans — millionaires and billionaires who are only getting richer by the day. Billionaires don't need another break, working people do,' Warren said in a statement to CNN.
The White House, however, says Trump's budget priorities would help Americans thrive, extending gains from his first term in office.
'Wealth inequality in the United States actually decreased for the first time in decades during President Trump's first term thanks to his economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, domestic energy production, and tariffs,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to CNN. 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill locks many of these successful policies in, including President Trump's historic first term tax cuts, to again restore prosperity for Main Street.'
The debate comes as concerns increase over America's $36 trillion mountain of debt.
Moody's Ratings on Friday downgraded the perfect credit rating it held for the United States since 1917 due to concerns about the surge in government debt over the past decade and high interest payment ratios.
The White House has argued the GOP tax bill will help address these concerns by cutting spending. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Monday that the sweeping legislation won't add to the deficit.
However, in its downgrade decision, Moody's said it does 'not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration.'
Likewise, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog group, warns that the GOP bill would 'add massively to near-term deficits' by piling another $3.3 trillion on the national debt over a decade including interest. That figure surges to $5.2 trillion if temporary provisions are made permanent.
'This additional near-term borrowing could stoke inflation and push up interest rates,' the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote in its analysis.