The US will still have most of the world's ultra-wealthy people - but only through 2025, report finds

• Boston Consulting found the US will continue to house the most ultra-wealthy people through 2025.
• By 2029, though, it predicts China will overtake the US with $10.4 trillion in ultra-wealthy assets.
• The number of ultra-rich people in the US have prompted some Democrats to call for a wealth tax.

Even as people are becoming wealthier in Asia, the US is maintaining its hold on the ultra-wealthy and will likely continue to house the greatest proportion of wealthiest individuals though 2025.

The Boston Consulting Group - a management consulting firm - released its Global Wealth Report of 2021 earlier this month, which analyzes how global wealth is and will be distributed. It found that the "ultra bracket," consisting of individuals whose net worths exceed $100 million, now includes 60,000 people with a combined $22 trillion of investable wealth, or 15% of the world's total investable wealth.

The majority of those ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) are in the US. "The US sits at the top of the league table in UHNWI concentration, as it has for some time," the report said.

The number of UHNWI in the US will increase 36% to about 28,000 in 2025 compared to last year, according to the report, while China and India will almost double their number of ultra-wealthy individuals to 13,600 and 1,400, respectively.

The report noted that China is on track to overtake the US by the end of the decade, though, and if growth continues at its current 13% annual rate, China will house $10.4 trillion in ultra assets by 2029. The US will still be close behind at $9.9 trillion in the same year.

ProPublica's recent expose on the tax rates paid by the US's wealthiest people could help explain why the US currently has the majority of them. For example, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett pay proportionally very little in income taxes because they accumulate assets in ways favored by the tax code. It's prompted some Democratic lawmakers to call for a wealth tax to help equalize income distribution.

"We all knew the tax system was rigged for the ultra-rich - the @propublica numbers just mashed it in everyone's faces," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter. "It's time for those at the top to pay a fair share so we can build an America that works for everybody. That's why we need a #WealthTax."