A billionaire who built 2 Fortune 500 companies just joined the chorus of ultra-wealthy Americans begging to be taxed more

AP

Broad is among the 74% of Americans who support the introduction of a wealth tax, as found by a 2019 survey published by The Hill.

• Billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad thinks the wealthiest Americans need to pay more taxes, according to an editorial he wrote for The New York Times on June 25.
• Broad's editorial comes one day after a group of 19 ultra-wealthy Americans, including George Soros and Abigail Disney, published an open letter asking presidential candidates to support a moderate wealth tax.
• Broad numbers among the 74% of Americans who support the introduction of a wealth tax, as found by a 2019 survey published by The Hill.
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Entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad is the latest in a series of billionaires asking the government to raise their taxes in hopes of closing the wealth gap.

"Our country must do something bigger and more radical, starting with the most unfair area of federal policy: our tax code," Broad wrote in an editorial for The New York Times published June 25. "It's time to start talking seriously about a wealth tax."

Policies such as a $15 minimum wage, public school reform, affordable housing initiatives, and Medicare expansions have not done enough to close the wealth gap on their own, Broad wrote.

Broad's editorial comes one day after a group of 19 ultra-wealthy Americans, including George Soros and Abigail Disney, published an open letter asking presidential candidates to support a moderate wealth tax. The revenue, they argued in the letter, could be used to fund environmental initiatives, fuel economic investment, and fund health care in addition to protecting America's democracy by reducing inequality.

Broad's editorial has the support of at least one of the letter's signatories: heiress and investor Liesel Pritzker Simmons shared the editorial on Twitter.

"I guess there are more of us," Simmons tweeted alongside a link to Broad's editorial. "A clear-eyed view on why Americans deserve more, much more than philanthropy."

Read more: Billionaires from George Soros to Abigail Disney are begging to be taxed more

Now a full-time philanthropist, Broad has a net worth of $6.7 billion, according to Forbes. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Broad made his fortune founding homebuilder KB Homes and insurance company SunAmerica, which he sold to AIG in 1998.

"I'm not an economist but I have watched my wealth grow exponentially thanks to federal policies that have cut my tax rates while wages for regular people have stagnated and poverty rates have increased," Broad wrote.

Broad also asked other ultra-wealthy Americans to join him in the call for a wealth tax.

"I can afford to pay more, and I know others can too," Broad wrote. "What we can't afford are more shortsighted policies that skirt big ideas, avoid tough issues and do little to alleviate the poverty faced by millions of Americans. There's no time to waste."

Read the full editorial in The New York Times »