Even a Global Wealth Tax Can't Solve This Problem
Raise the price of an activity and people do less of it or restructure how they report it. Mobility was never the sole issue.
Wealth
Rich Americans Pay a Higher Share of Taxes Than the Wealthy in Most Countries
What’s a “fair share” of funding for a government that many Americans distrust?
Bernie Sanders Proposes AI Tax To Give Everyone $1,000 a Month. His Bill Would Do a Lot More Than That.
The Vermont senator's American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would also create an entirely new regulatory regime for the tech industry.
The War on Economic Growth Is a War on the Poor
No poor country has ever achieved decent living standards without first getting richer.
Bernie Sanders Is Wrong About Trillionaires
Plus: the Supreme Court's biggest pending decisions, renewed court-packing debates, and the economic fallout from the Iran war
Elon Musk Becomes the World's First Trillionaire. Is That Such a Bad Thing?
Growing economies benefit all people, not just the uberwealthy.
The Economist Who Wants To Make the World Poorer
Thomas Piketty's plan is a comprehensive program for global managed decline dressed up in the language of climate justice and equality.
How the Billionaire Tax Could Make California Poorer
One upcoming ballot measure would expand the state's taxing power. A lesser-known measure would limit it. Which will win?
The Zero-Sum Myth Driving Anti-Capitalism Politics
Yes, capitalism can cause some problems. It's also the only thing that works.
Contra AOC, You Don't Have To Be a Billionaire To Be a Leech
There are makers and moochers on every rung of the income ladder.
Just Don't Call It a War
Plus: AOC says you can't earn a billion dollars, Mythos, hantavirus, and more...
Seattle's Socialist Mayor Laughs at Wealthy Residents Leaving To Escape High Taxes
“Bye!” Mayor Katie Wilson says with a wave to those who want out.
The Marriage Gap Is America's Most Overlooked Source of Inequality
Every dollar of well-intentioned government assistance comes with a behavioral price tag that we've largely refused to count.
Globalization Made Howard Lutnick a Billionaire. Now He's Railing Against It as Trump's Commerce Chief.
Globalization helped make everyone else much richer, too.
'The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share' and 4 Other Tax Myths That Won't Die
The United States has the most progressive income-tax system in the developed world.
'They're Going To Go Elsewhere': Steve Forbes on Why Taxing the Rich Backfires
"For the first time since California came into the union," the publisher and businessman says, "they're having out-migration."
The Hidden Costs of Elizabeth Warren's 'Ultra-Millionaire' Tax
The Massachusetts senator fails to consider how her tax would harm middle class Americans and slow economic growth.
Don't Legislate Morality: Most Americans Can't Agree on What's Immoral
Most matters enjoy too little moral agreement to make fertile ground for government intervention.
New York Gov. Hochul Begs 'High-Net-Worth' Refugees To Return and Be Taxed
Hochul invited those who opposed her policies to leave. Many did. Now she wants them back.
California's Billionaire Tax Won't Save Hospitals
The state's funding crisis is driven by a third-party payment system in which roughly 90 cents of every American health care dollar is paid by someone other than the patient.
Tax the Rich All You Want. It Won't Fix the Deficit.
The problem is not that the government collects too little. It's that the government spends too much.
The 4 Economic Myths Powering Trump's New Tariff Push
American businesses and consumers absorbed nearly 90 percent of the 2025 tariffs' economic burden, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found.
Washington's Millionaire Tax Is Economic Suicide
Washington has enjoyed decades of spectacular economic growth as a direct result of the absence of state income taxes. The new measure threatens to change all that.
Wealth Taxes Are Proven Failures. Will California Take Note?
Across advanced economies, they have repeatedly been narrowed or even repealed after delivering disappointing revenue, tax avoidance, capital flight, and costly administrative battles.
'Billionaire' Tax is a Bait-and-Switch To Gouge the Middle Class
Proposals sold as targeting extreme wealth would fundamentally change how Americans are taxed—turning any ownership into a recurring liability for the middle class.
Yes, the Middle Class Is Shrinking—Because It's Moving Up
The real squeeze comes from government-distorted markets, not economic decline.
Why America's Inequality Story Doesn't Add Up
Taxes, benefits, and household data make America look more unequal than it is.
Why Mitt Romney's Call To Tax the Rich Falls Apart
Yes, the status quo is unsustainable. But Romney's proposed solution risks making those problems harder to fix while foreclosing opportunities for the next generation.
Why College Students Prefer Socialism—and Why They're Wrong
When the media say the middle class is in decline, they're technically right—because people are getting richer.
The U.S. Is Stealing From Millennials and Gen Z To Make Boomers Even Richer
Social insurance programs are compatible with a basic safety net. But what we have now is a slow-motion generational fleecing.
The Horseshoe of Doom: Populists Left and Right Say America Is Failing. The Facts Don't.
When voters believe they're living through an economic apocalypse, they're willing to embrace the very policies that would create one.
Switzerland Just Overwhelmingly Rejected a New Wealth Tax. Will California Lawmakers Learn?
The hammer of heavy wealth and inheritance taxes falls hardest on those still climbing the economic ladder.
America Is in a Golden Age. Are We Headed Toward a Roman Ending?
"Once you have an ever-expanding system of entitlements that you can't afford, that's often the beginning of the decline and fall," says historian Johan Norberg.
Trump Says He Hates Socialism. So Why Is He Acting Like a Socialist?
To support chipmaker Intel, the president used our money to buy 433 million shares of Intel stock. That's not a free market.
Young People Are Richer Than Boomers Were
Despite viral claims, a typical 25-year-old Gen Zer has annual household income that's 50 percent above Baby Boomers'.
Here's What Would Happen If We Seized All the Wealth From America's 800 Billionaires
Don't comfort yourself with wishful thinking that millionaires and billionaires could take the entire burden of the deficit off our hands.
Why Europeans Have Less
It's no coincidence why Europeans don't have air conditioning, clothes dryers, or ice.
Zohran Mamdani's Socialist Vision for New York Is a Recipe for Disaster
Socialism doesn't bring a dignified life. On the contrary, it's wrecked lives wherever it's been tried.
Mountainhead Is a Shallow Satire of Tech Billionaires
A zippy script can't make up for a lack of insight.
In Defense of 'Luxury Beliefs'
Historically, many ideas that once seemed to be elite fixations eventually became mainstream.
Is Science Rigged for the Rich?
A recent study claiming inequality of opportunity in the sciences commits statistical and conceptual errors that make its findings meaningless.
America Is Beating Europe
A popular narrative says Europeans are better off because of increased regulation. Reality paints a different picture.
Mark Cuban on Pharmacy Prices, Health Care, and 'Good' Billionaires
"If you were an asshole when you were poor, you're going to be a bigger asshole when you're wealthy," the Shark Tank personality tells Reason.
Countries With Economic Freedom Are Far Better Off
Even the poorest citizens of free countries fare better than the middle classes in economically repressive nations.
Reform Social Security for Those Who Need It Most
As it stands, the program effectively redistributes money from younger and poorer people to richer people.
Many Native Americans Struggle With Poverty. Easing Energy Regulations Could Help.
A significant percentage of Native Americans don't even have electricity—thanks in part to reservations being subject to overwhelming bureaucracy.
Robert Reich Is Wrong About Billionaires—and Almost Everything Else
His ideas would leave us poorer and less free.
