The top 10% wealthiest share of the global population reportedly holds 50% of total wealth, and the recent actions of the Trump administration could make that disparity increase.
As reported by Statista data journalist Katharina Buchholz, the United States currently ranks as one of the most unequally wealth-distributed countries in the world — outpaced only by Saudi Arabia, Mexico and South Africa.
“The United States ranks toward the top for the unequal distribution of wealth, surpassing European countries,” she wrote. “Its wealth distribution has become more unequal again recently, an instance which is now potentially continuing with the latest Republican budget proposal that aims to give tax cuts to rich Americans while limiting social services.”
Wealth inequality is certainly not a new issue. In 1913, the wealthiest 1% of Americans held 45% of wealth. However, as Buchholz reports, that number increased to 71.2% after the COVID pandemic, beating the European Union’s rate of 59.3%. And now, this status quo could become more pronounced should Republican tax cuts and budget cuts go into full effect.
The Republican budget proposal
Before Easter, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives managed barely to pass its budget blueprint, which calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, an increased $175 billion in border spending and $150 billion in defense spending. As Reuters reports, this budget would add $5.7 trillion in deficit spending in the next 10 years.
While the House budget plan will need to be reconciled with the more modest cuts proposed by the Senate, the House bill has drawn internal criticism from Republican Party fiscal hawks as a result of its spending cuts that increase the deficit. It barely passed the House with a 216-214 majority.
If the House bill is successfully reconciled with the Senate bill, it is unlikely to be signed by President Donald Trump before Memorial Day.
One of two House Republicans who refused to vote for the bill, Kentucky Sen. Thomas Massie said: “If we cut taxes without cutting spending, adding another $30 trillion in debt over 10 years, we’re stealing from our kids and grandkids. That’s greed, plain and simple. What kind of parents rob their children?”
Trump’s continued insistence on extending his 2017 tax cuts will likely create further revenue issues, which the administration claims will be filled by his recent increase in tariffs. However, March’s gross customs duties of $8.75 billion are unlikely to fill the revenue gap and are likely to decrease if trade imports decrease.
2024’s federal spending hit $6.8 trillion, against $4.9 trillion in total revenue.
Similarly, Elon Musk reported his Department of Government Efficiency is currently aiming to cut government spending by $150 billion by 2026, a far cry from his campaign-speech claims of reducing as much as $2 trillion in “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Comparatively, 2024’s federal spending hit $6.8 trillion, against $4.9 trillion in total revenue.
The effects of spending cuts
With the current budget awaiting reconciliation, there is much fear about the effect it could have on Social Security, SNAP, Medicare, Medicaid and student loans. The House bill currently proposes $2 trillion in social services spending cuts through 2034.
As Buchholz argues, these cuts could hit the poorest Americans. The most affected regions of the country for SNAP reductions, in particular, will be rural and will have downstream effects on households and employers to get $9 billion in yearly wages. Medicaid cuts would specifically hit red states like Kentucky, Louisiana and West Virginia hard, while similarly impacting blue states like New Mexico, California and New York. All these states have greater than a quarter of the population accessing Medicaid, meaning a significant portion of the population could have benefits cut.
“Calculations by The Century Foundation show in which states children would be most affected by the SNAP cuts due to a higher number of families depending on the benefits there,” Buchholz continues. “Families with children in the U.S. and elsewhere are much more likely to experience poverty, leading to around 40% of SNAP recipients being children. The rates of children on SNAP are highest in the states of New Mexico at more than 34%, Louisiana at almost 29% and West Virginia at more than 26%. But in states like Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, more than 20% of children receive SNAP benefits as well. The highest absolute impact would be felt in states that are both big and rural, like Texas, North Carolina and Ohio.”
The most affected regions of the country for SNAP reductions, in particular, will be rural and will have downstream effects on households and employers.
The House budget prioritizes continued tax breaks for those earning more than $400,000
“Already emerging from the initial resolutions is the plan to extend the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, some of which would soon be expiring, to the tune of $3.6 trillion through 2034,” Buchholz says. “This includes $1.8 trillion in connection with cuts to individual income and estate tax provisions for those earning more than $400,000 annually. $900 billion in new tax cuts are also included in the drafts, which might go to corporations.”
Anti-billionaire sentiment increasing
While the left wing has struggled to form a coherent defense against the Trump administration, one of the most popular and consistent messages of the past three months has been the resurgence of anti-billionaire sentiments. This was seen most clearly with the April 1 election of Susan Crawford to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, due in part to running against Musk and his $25 million campaign investment in the Trump-backed candidate Brad Schimel.
“As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin,” she said on election night. “And we won.”
Anti-billionaire sentiment is certainly creating a problem for Republicans, but the greater problem may become Trump’s fundamental betrayal of the economic issues that got him elected in the first place. He swept into office due to voters believing he was a superior economic candidate, with 32% of the electorate saying the economy was their most important issue. While neither Trump nor Biden can be blamed for transitory skyrocketing egg prices, the post-COVID economic slump took its toll on Biden and Harris, and Trump has inherited it.
Despite his pro-business reputation, he currently stands on the precipice as his “Liberation Day” tariffs risk sparking a global recession and escalating trade wars. This could certainly create problems for the 2026 and 2028 elections if his policies backfire while perceivably giving tax breaks to the 1%.
Forbes reports the global number of billionaires has increased to 3,028 in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic and subsequent tech booms of the past half decade, up from 140 billionaires globally in 1987. Musk, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — all of whom have stood by Trump — currently rank as the three richest men in the world with net worths exceeding $100 billion. Cumulatively, the world’s billionaires hold a net worth of $16.1 trillion.