Nearly every political movement that taps into mass passions has a villain, and the most energized portion of the left has in the last few years shifted from blaming the white male patriarchy for the world’s problems to focusing on billionaires. Whether it’s high prices of consumer goods, rent increases, or Americans falling behind on their bills, every material concern that the poor face can be solved by taxing the ultra-rich and scaling back their political power.
When serious budget analysts look at the programs of DSA-aligned and other left-wing politicians, however, the math rarely adds up. You cannot tax billionaires nearly enough to create the kind of welfare state that socialists dream of. Doing so would require soaking not just billionaires but the much larger class of millionaires, successful business owners, and high-earning professionals whose very prosperity makes them difficult political targets.