Left wingers love to go on about how "taxing the 'rich'" will fund the endless social spending that they always demand.
Of course, reality is very different.
Let us look at a concrete example.
Social Security Works ❌👑 @SSWorks: "If billionaires like Bezos and Musk paid their fair share in taxes, we could expand Social Security benefits and ensure the program's future for 75 years!"
We already know that seizing all of billionaires' wealth will fund a grand total of 9 months of US federal spending and then the Golden Goose will be dead, but maybe funding Social Security is a more realistic goal?
As usual, the "fair share" that left wingers screech about is never defined, to keep its potency as a rallying cry. The closest I've seen to one is a 100% tax rate over $1 billion.
To be as generous as possible to Social Security (if not the billionaires), let's assume that 100% of all billionaires' wealth will be confiscated. According to Americans For Tax "Fairness" (whatever "Fairness" means), as of Labor Day 2025, the personal wealth of all billionaires in the US was $7.6 trillion.
This sounds like a lot of money.
However, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget calculated in June 2025 that Social Security's actuarial deficit was $26 trillion on a present value basis.
Bear in mind that this is without expanding Social Security benefits as left wingers demand (sometimes they call for lifting the cap, usually not realising that benefits would be uncapped too, leaving the program no better off).
So no, even if all billionaires' wealth was confiscated (much less if they "paid their fair share in taxes"), this would not cover the deficit in Social Security for 75 years, much less cover an expansion of benefits.
