Topline
More than 400 millionaires from two dozen countries are calling on world leaders to increase taxes on the super rich as a new poll shows a majority of millionaires in G20 countries support the regulation of extreme wealth and worry about the role wealthy individuals, including President Donald Trump, are playing in global politics.
President Donald Trump gives a speech at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland.
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Key Facts
Hundreds of notable names signed an open letter calling on world leaders, many of whom gathered at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this week, to “tax the super rich” in an attempt to lessen their influence in politics.
The letter is part of a broader campaign encouraging a wealth tax by a nonprofit called Patriotic Millionaires, which also released the results of an online survey on Wednesday sent to thousands of millionaires from G20 countries, including the United States.
The letter, signed by Disney heirs Abigail and Tim Disney, actors Brian Cox and Mark Ruffalo and musician Brian Eno, among others, claims increasing taxes on the world’s richest will allow “all people” to “win back power from those who capture it, win back our democracies from those who abuse them… (and) win back our shared wealth.”
The poll, conducted by English market research agency Survation, found that 63% of the G20 3,900 millionaire respondents think extreme wealth is a threat to democracy.
More than three in four (77%) of respondents said extremely wealthy people are able to buy political influence and even more (81%) think money buys access to politicians.
Almost all respondents (82%) said they think there should be a limit to how much money politicians and political parties can receive from individuals, and only 17% said they’d be opposed to taxing the rich to fund public services and tackle the cost of living crisis.
Six in 10 respondents said Trump, who is a billionaire, has had a negative impact both on global economic stability and on affordability for everyday people since he took office last January.
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Crucial Quote
“The super- rich have been winning for long enough, now it’s time for everyone else to win,” Eno said in a statement. “We want our security back, our communities back, the wealth of our countries back – and we want our democracies back. It’s time to tax the super-rich.”
Contra
While UBS data from before the 2024 election suggests a slight majority of millionaire Americans favored Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, billionaires largely rallied behind Trump and the Republican party. The nation’s ultra high net worth individuals put their money into his campaign in droves, with more than 80% of federal campaign spending by the 100 wealthiest Americans in 2024 going to Republicans, the Washington Post reported. Trump raised 15 times more from the 100 richest Americans than he did during his first presidential campaign. He has continued to court the super rich throughout his presidency and welcomed several billionaires into his cabinet, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, among others.
Big Number
33%. That’s how many of the polled G20 millionaires said they think Trump’s presidency has benefitted their personal finances. The president has passed several laws and provisions to benefit the super wealthy since taking office, including an act to increase the estate tax exemption and cutting international business taxes.
Tangent
Trump has “used the office of the presidency” to increase his personal wealth by at least $1.4 billion, the New York Times recently reported. That number, which the Times said it knows to be an under estimate, includes at least $867 million through various cryptocurrencies, $90 million in settlements from tech and media companies, $23 million from licensing his name overseas since his re-election and $28 million from an Amazon documentary about Melania Trump.
Key Background
Calls to address wealth inequality have been rising for decades, recently underscored by mounting evidence of a rapidly growing wealth gap. A recent report from Oxfam international showed that billionaire wealth jumped by over 16% in 2025, a rate three times higher than the average of the last five years. Billionaire wealth has increased by 81% since 2020, the report said, with the collective wealth of billionaires surging to $2.5 trillion in the last year. That number is equivalent to the total wealth held by the poorest 4.1 billion people in the world, per Oxfam. The World Inequality Database reports that in almost all countries, the richest 10% hold more than 50% of personal wealth. The United States ranks toward the top among nations with the most unequal distribution of wealth.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/01/21/majority-of-surveyed-millionaires-think-trump-is-damaging-global-economic-stability/
