Latest news with #wealthredistribution
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Trump goes to war with the wealthy to shore up Maga base
Donald Trump has never been a likely Robin Hood figure. But even a billionaire US president knows he needs to work on his image sometimes. After promising tax cuts on the campaign trail, Trump now claims he wants to raise taxes on the rich. 'People would love to do it – rich people. I would love to do it, frankly,' he told reporters in the Oval Office earlier this month. 'What you're doing is you're giving up something up top in order to make people in the middle-income and the lower-income brackets save more. So it's really a redistribution, and I'm willing to do it if they want.' Lawmakers have reportedly been discussing a range of different ways to target America's highest earners, with measures that could rake in an extra $400bn (£300bn) over a decade. In doing so, Trump is trampling on the bedrock of traditional Republican ideology and causing uproar in the Grand Old Party. But as Republicans prepare their 'big, beautiful bill' for tax and spending, which includes $880bn in cuts to public health insurance for poor households, Trump needs to find ways to take care of his low-income Maga support base. The bill was passed on Thursday by the House of Representatives and will now go to the Senate, but it is still possible that it could be subject to changes. Trump's Oval Office comments followed a Truth Social post in which he said he would 'graciously accept' a tax increase on the rich, but added: 'In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!' It was not his first hint. 'I love that, I actually love the concept,' Trump said during an interview with Time magazine at the end of April, when he was asked about raising taxes on millionaires. 'He's trying to be populist,' says William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Centre and a former senior economist on President George HW Bush's council of economic advisers. Adam Michel, the director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, says: 'I think Trump has people around him who are not Republicans and who think that the class warfare message that Democrats have run on in the past is a winning one, and some of that has bled through into his thinking.' The archetype non-typical Republican in Trump World was once Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist. While he is no longer on the inside, he has been pushing the idea of taxes on the wealthy in a sign of the kind of thinking filtering through Maga land. Bannon said earlier this month: 'I believe that if we can't cut federal spending that the wealthy in this country, at least the millionaires, are [taxed at] 40pc, as a start. 'We have a capitalist system with very few capitalists. I think 75pc of people don't own any real financial assets. So we have to have fundamental change in this country and part of that has to come from the tax structure.' Reports suggest that three options could be on the table. On a call with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump discussed the possibility of letting his 2017 tax cuts expire for the highest earners, according to CNN. During his first term, Trump cut the top tax rate, which is currently charged on individual income exceeding $626,350 (or on income above $751,600 for married couples), from 39.6pc to 37pc. If this rate reverted to 39.6pc, it would affect 1.5m households and mean $409bn in extra tax revenues over a decade, according to the Tax Foundation. Households in America pay state taxes on top of the federal tax rates. In high tax states such as California and New York, top rate tax payers would face a marginal rate of more than 50pc. The second idea, which has been discussed by members of the Ways and Means Committee, is to create a new top tax bracket for those earning $2.5m or more, with a rate of 39.6pc. The Tax Foundation calculates that this would hit up to 200,000 households and raise nearly $70bn over 10 years. Another alternative, which Fox News reported White House aides were quietly floating among House Republicans, is to raise the income tax rate for people earning more than $1m to 40pc. The Tax Foundation calculates this would raise $275bn over a decade. 'It seems there is a contingent within the White House that just likes higher taxes, whether they be on individuals or on traded goods,' says Michel. While the numbers involved may sound appealing, in every case the Tax Foundation warned that overall income would be significantly reduced because the tax rise would hit growth. Still, Trump may well be more concerned about what he could lose if he does not at least talk about soaking the rich. Several pollsters have warned that Republicans could lose support from the Maga base as a result of the Medicaid cuts within Trump's Budget. In April, top Trump campaign pollster McLaughlin & Associates found that 78pc of Trump supporters in battleground congressional districts supported the Medicaid programme. It followed similar polling by Tony Fabrizio, another Trump polling guru, who found that the majority of Trump voters opposed Medicaid cuts and two thirds of swing voters said they disapproved of reductions in the health programme to fund tax cuts. However, the instinct to raise taxes on the wealthy to help protect the Maga base stands in stark contrast to the bedrock of Republican ideology, which is to push for lower taxes. 'Tax cuts are the one thing that unites the Republican Party,' says Gale. The vast majority of Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and the House have signed what is known as 'the Pledge' – a commitment organised by old-time Republican activist Grover Norquist to never vote for tax rises. Norquist told The Atlantic a tax rise on the rich was 'an incredibly destructive idea economically, and very foolish politically', But the old guard does not necessarily have its finger on the pulse. Many of the votes that carried the party to victory in 2024 were not for the Republicans but for Trump alone. 'We're changed the electorate in the Republican Party. We are a working-class and a middle-class party,' Bannon said this month. It was the Democrats' failure to grasp the importance of fundamental economic issues that pushed so many lower-income Americans towards Trump, Bannon argues. The president forgets this at his peril, he believes. 'They want to cut $880bn out of Medicaid, but you can't do it because Maga is on Medicaid,' Bannon said. As things stand, wealthy families will rake in cash from tax and spending changes in the pipeline while low-income families are going to lose money. There are three key parts to the 'big, beautiful bill'. The first is the extension of the sweeping tax cuts that Trump introduced in 2017, which are due to expire at the end of this year. The second element is a fleet of extra tax cuts that Trump promised on the campaign trail, such as scrapping taxes on tips and overtime. The third is a series of spending cuts to try and balance the books. Even though many lower and middle class households will technically benefit from some of the tax cuts, the loss of health insurance coverage means the poorest fifth will lose about $940 in 2026, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Meanwhile, the top 10pc highest income households will get 65pc of the benefits from the legislation. As well as helping to even the scales when it comes to who benefits, taxing the rich would also help to balance the books. Although the spending cuts are dramatic, they are nowhere near large enough to cover the cost of the tax cuts. The bill currently envisions $4.5 trillion in net tax cuts over the next decade, but only $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, says James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. This matters because the public finances are already a mess. America has a debt problem. Moody's last week stripped the US of its last triple-A credit rating as it warned that Trump's plans to extend his 2017 tax cuts will add $4 trillion to the US federal deficit over the next decade. It was the last of the big three credit rating agencies to downgrade America. US federal government debt is forecast to balloon from 98pc of GDP to 134pc by 2035. As a result, investors are growing increasingly nervous about the sustainability of US borrowing. Yields on 30-year US Treasuries surpassed 5pc on Wednesday after the passage of the existing bill as investors demanded higher rates for debt that they now view as more risky. A tax raid on the rich to balance the budget might help to ease those jitters. However, for all Trump's Robin Hood talk, he may struggle to make the policy happen. Tax is an area where Trump cannot resort to executive order. The bill is now progressing to the Senate. If any changes are made they will have to be signed off by the House of Representatives again, where Republicans have only a slim majority. Strong-arming this majority into backing something that goes against a central tenent of old-school ideology may be a stretch. 'Trump has always surprised me in his ability to get Republicans to lay down and take things that they're never believed before,' says Michel. 'So I don't want to say that he wouldn't be able to do it. But I think that it would be a really big lift.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ultra wealthy Gen Zers are redistributing the millions of dollars they've inherited—Meet the money coaches helping them
Gen Z and young millennials are stepping into money only to give it all away—and they're not doing it alone. Money coaches are guiding wealthy young people in redistributing their millions to philanthropic causes to offset their guilt. 'A lot of them are just like, 'Get it off, get it away,'' one inheritance advisor tells Fortune. Receiving a mountain of cold hard cash might be a dream come true for most. But for others, it's a crushing responsibility that comes with a lot of shame. Rich young inheritors are grappling with newfound wealth by banding together to give it away. 'For some people, it's such a scandalous idea and a horrifying idea to think that you would give away a third of your wealth,' Iris Brilliant, a money coach for inheritors, tells Fortune. 'And for others, it's so wrong to not do that. It brings up so many feelings of guilt about privilege, and the knowledge that more money does not equal more satisfaction in life.' That's as the 'great transfer of wealth' is on everyone's mind, as $84 trillion is expected to be passed down from seniors and baby boomers to Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z by 2045. One of the largest forces driving this money towards good is Resource Generation—with 18 chapters across the U.S., the organization gathers young people aged 18 to 35 with access to wealth. Through group sessions and its annual Making Money Make Change conference, these high net-worth members have the ultimate goal to distribute their wealth, land, and power to causes promoting racial and economic justice. Money coaches have also entered the fold; part-financial advisor and part-therapist, these experts guide clients through their feelings and create a plan of action to redistribute their money meaningfully. Exposed to extreme wealth inequality, 'eat the rich' sloganing, and billionaire hoarding, Gen Z and millennial inheritors are looking to money coaches to also lighten their emotional load. Brilliant is one of many money coaches out there helping to redistribute the 1%'s wealth to meaningful causes. Her job may sound like a financial advisor on paper—but her work goes a lot deeper than bank accounts. 'There's more support that's needed logistically and emotionally,' she says. 'Logistically, what it takes to give away $3 million is very different than what you need to give away $10,000. The stakes are higher, it's a lot more labor to make those decisions, and at a certain point you need more in-depth support.' After having worked at Resource Generation for five years, Brilliant became a certified coach through the Co-Active Training Institute, and has been running her own practice for nearly seven years. She works with millionaire couples and individuals to unpack their newfound money and where it came from. This year, Brilliant is even coaching descendents of Nazis whose wealth came from the Third Reich—confronting the difficult truths of their inheritance, and how to redistribute it equitably. Vermont-based money coach Jo Lum is also helping rich clients find a meaningful way to offload wealth via monthly two-hour sessions aimed at addressing the stigma of being rich. Lum is also a young inheritor whose grandfather was an early employee at $146 billion pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and draws upon their own conflicted feelings to help clients. 'Wealthy people are often the villain, [but] at the same time that wealth is valorized or idealized,' they tell Fortune. 'There becomes this internal battle.' Money coaches tell Fortune that high net-worth people who want to redistribute can come in all shapes and sizes. But a few patterns emerge: their clients tend to skew progressive, young, female, and queer. Lum says marginalized groups may have had life experiences that compel them to act for the betterment of others. 'Because this is really sensitive, vulnerable work, it takes a really open heart to decide to swim upstream. The choices that my clients are making are the hard choices,' they say. 'The easy choice is to hoard, retain the money, and just let it do nothing.' Lum has also noticed that Gen Zers are more anxious about stepping into wealth than other generations, saying young people are exposed to intense wealth disparity on social media. They don't want to be lumped in with power-hungry billionaires. 'For my younger clients, I tend to have to support them more in thinking about themselves. A lot of them are just like, 'Get it off, get it away,'' Lum says. 'And for some older clients, I've experienced more coaxing to open the hand.' This movement falls in line with some billionaires sticking their necks out. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates recently vowed to give $200 billion to charity over the next 20 years, redistributing most of his fortune. He and Melinda French-Gates have also joined forces with investing mogul Warren Buffett in creating the Giving Pledge. But the actions of a few don't represent the majority; instead of erecting libraries and building schools, many billionaires are hoarding their wealth in droves. And this isn't lost on many Americans struggling to get by, rationing money for groceries and rent. Brilliant says demand for her coaching rises in times of geopolitical distress; when Donald Trump was first elected as U.S. president, she got four times as many coaching requests than she had in the past. The COVID-19 pandemic—when people were quarantined at home and sucked into social media—was another driving force. 'We saw an even bigger gap in the wealth disparity around that time. And there was just a lot more media [content] as well about how much money the 1% was profiting every year. All of that impacts people,' Brilliant explains. 'There's collectively a lot more class rage, which I think is really healthy, ultimately.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ultra wealthy Gen Zers are redistributing the millions of dollars they've inherited—Meet the money coaches helping them
Gen Z and young millennials are stepping into money only to give it all away—and they're not doing it alone. Money coaches are guiding wealthy young people in redistributing their millions to philanthropic causes to offset their guilt. 'A lot of them are just like, 'Get it off, get it away,'' one inheritance advisor tells Fortune. Receiving a mountain of cold hard cash might be a dream come true for most. But for others, it's a crushing responsibility that comes with a lot of shame. Rich young inheritors are grappling with newfound wealth by banding together to give it away. 'For some people, it's such a scandalous idea and a horrifying idea to think that you would give away a third of your wealth,' Iris Brilliant, a money coach for inheritors, tells Fortune. 'And for others, it's so wrong to not do that. It brings up so many feelings of guilt about privilege, and the knowledge that more money does not equal more satisfaction in life.' That's as the 'great transfer of wealth' is on everyone's mind, as $84 trillion is expected to be passed down from seniors and baby boomers to Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z by 2045. One of the largest forces driving this money towards good is Resource Generation—with 18 chapters across the U.S., the organization gathers young people aged 18 to 35 with access to wealth. Through group sessions and its annual Making Money Make Change conference, these high net-worth members have the ultimate goal to distribute their wealth, land, and power to causes promoting racial and economic justice. Money coaches have also entered the fold; part-financial advisor and part-therapist, these experts guide clients through their feelings and create a plan of action to redistribute their money meaningfully. Exposed to extreme wealth inequality, 'eat the rich' sloganing, and billionaire hoarding, Gen Z and millennial inheritors are looking to money coaches to also lighten their emotional load. Brilliant is one of many money coaches out there helping to redistribute the 1%'s wealth to meaningful causes. Her job may sound like a financial advisor on paper—but her work goes a lot deeper than bank accounts. 'There's more support that's needed logistically and emotionally,' she says. 'Logistically, what it takes to give away $3 million is very different than what you need to give away $10,000. The stakes are higher, it's a lot more labor to make those decisions, and at a certain point you need more in-depth support.' After having worked at Resource Generation for five years, Brilliant became a certified coach through the Co-Active Training Institute, and has been running her own practice for nearly seven years. She works with millionaire couples and individuals to unpack their newfound money and where it came from. This year, Brilliant is even coaching descendents of Nazis whose wealth came from the Third Reich—confronting the difficult truths of their inheritance, and how to redistribute it equitably. Vermont-based money coach Jo Lum is also helping rich clients find a meaningful way to offload wealth via monthly two-hour sessions aimed at addressing the stigma of being rich. Lum is also a young inheritor whose grandfather was an early employee at $146 billion pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and draws upon their own conflicted feelings to help clients. 'Wealthy people are often the villain, [but] at the same time that wealth is valorized or idealized,' they tell Fortune. 'There becomes this internal battle.' Money coaches tell Fortune that high net-worth people who want to redistribute can come in all shapes and sizes. But a few patterns emerge: their clients tend to skew progressive, young, female, and queer. Lum says marginalized groups may have had life experiences that compel them to act for the betterment of others. 'Because this is really sensitive, vulnerable work, it takes a really open heart to decide to swim upstream. The choices that my clients are making are the hard choices,' they say. 'The easy choice is to hoard, retain the money, and just let it do nothing.' Lum has also noticed that Gen Zers are more anxious about stepping into wealth than other generations, saying young people are exposed to intense wealth disparity on social media. They don't want to be lumped in with power-hungry billionaires. 'For my younger clients, I tend to have to support them more in thinking about themselves. A lot of them are just like, 'Get it off, get it away,'' Lum says. 'And for some older clients, I've experienced more coaxing to open the hand.' This movement falls in line with some billionaires sticking their necks out. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates recently vowed to give $200 billion to charity over the next 20 years, redistributing most of his fortune. He and Melinda French-Gates have also joined forces with investing mogul Warren Buffett in creating the Giving Pledge. But the actions of a few don't represent the majority; instead of erecting libraries and building schools, many billionaires are hoarding their wealth in droves. And this isn't lost on many Americans struggling to get by, rationing money for groceries and rent. Brilliant says demand for her coaching rises in times of geopolitical distress; when Donald Trump was first elected as U.S. president, she got four times as many coaching requests than she had in the past. The COVID-19 pandemic—when people were quarantined at home and sucked into social media—was another driving force. 'We saw an even bigger gap in the wealth disparity around that time. And there was just a lot more media [content] as well about how much money the 1% was profiting every year. All of that impacts people,' Brilliant explains. 'There's collectively a lot more class rage, which I think is really healthy, ultimately.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
09-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump says tax raises are ‘good politics,' dismissing GOP critics
As Republicans search for avenues to extend President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, some Republican lawmakers involved in the process have floated the idea that the nation's highest earners could see a tax increase in order to usher in cuts for lower-earners. For his part, the president is sending signals he tends to agree. "You know, they'll go around saying, 'Oh, this is so terrible.' What you're doing is you're giving up something up top in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more. So it's really a redistribution," Trump told reporters when asked what his response would be to those Republicans opposed to tax increases on the wealthy. "I would love to be able to give people in a lower bracket a big break by giving up some of what I have," the president added. He also noted that the move is just "good politics," dismissing comparisons some political experts have made to one-term Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose broken promise to Republicans that there would be "no new taxes" following his 1988 election victory has been blamed Bush's failed re-election efforts. "Read my lips: No new taxes," Bush Sr. said during his acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Subsequently, in the face of a ballooning deficit, Bush Sr. ultimately cut a deal with Democrats that raised taxes. "A lot of people say, don't do it because of the fact that you have the Bush statement about 'Read my lips.' But he lost because of Ross Perot, he didn't lose because of that statement," Trump said. "I actually think it's good politics to do it where richer people give up. And it's a very small – it's like a point – but they give it up to benefit the people on lower income." In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier Friday, Trump struck a slightly more cautious tone about the alleged concern that his willingness to increase taxes on the highest earners could spell trouble for him electorally the way it did for Bush Sr. He complained that Democrats would point to it repeatedly in an effort to discredit him. However, Trump still contended that the elder President Bush lost because of more than just his broken tax promises, and added that while Republicans should probably not increase taxes on the wealthy, he would be okay with it if they were to do so. "The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election," Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. "NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!"
Fox News
09-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump defends idea of raising taxes on wealthiest Americans: 'It's good politics'
As Republicans search for avenues to extend President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, some Republican lawmakers involved in the process have floated the idea that the nation's highest earners could see a tax increase in order to usher in cuts for lower-earners. For his part, the president is sending signals he tends to agree. "You know, they'll go around saying, 'Oh, this is so terrible.' What you're doing is you're giving up something up top in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more. So it's really a redistribution," Trump told reporters when asked what his response would be to those Republicans opposed to tax increases on the wealthy. "I would love to be able to give people in a lower bracket a big break by giving up some of what I have," the president added. He also noted that the move is just "good politics," dismissing comparisons some political experts have made to one-term Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose broken promise to Republicans that there would be "no new taxes" following his 1988 election victory has been blamed Bush's failed re-election efforts. "Read my lips: No new taxes," Bush Sr. said during his acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Subsequently, in the face of a ballooning deficit, Bush Sr. ultimately cut a deal with Democrats that raised taxes. "A lot of people say, don't do it because of the fact that you have the Bush statement about 'Read my lips.' But he lost because of Ross Perot, he didn't lose because of that statement," Trump said. "I actually think it's good politics to do it where richer people give up. And it's a very small – it's like a point – but they give it up to benefit the people on lower income." In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier Friday, Trump struck a slightly more cautious tone about the alleged concern that his willingness to increase taxes on the highest earners could spell trouble for him electorally the way it did for Bush Sr. He complained that Democrats would point to it repeatedly in an effort to discredit him. However, Trump still contended that the elder President Bush lost because of more than just his broken tax promises, and added that while Republicans should probably not increase taxes on the wealthy, he would be okay with it if they were to do so. "The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election," Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. "NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!"
