BILLIONAIRES CAN’T PAY THE NATION’S DEBT

…the “Great Baby Boomer Wealth Transfer” could, but won’t

by Ralph Bristol, Facebook, Dec. 14, 2025- Inevitably, discussions about our national debt lead to unrelated conversations about the super-wealthy and the taxes they don’t pay.  “If only we could get more of that untaxed wealth of billionaires, the national debt would not be a problem,” seems to be the thinking.  To be clear, billionaires don’t pay taxes on most of their wealth, and that may not be a good thing, but it’s unrelated to our debt problem, which will one day be a debt crisis if we don’t deal with it before it does.

If you could take ALL the wealth of the 20 wealthiest Americans WITHOUT destroying the economy from which most of the tax revenue comes, that $3 trillion would cover the nation’s DEFICIT for 1.5 years.  Problem not solved. 

Okay then, let’s take ALL the wealth of ALL 905 billionaires in the U.S.  That gets you a little further.  That $7.8 trillion would cover the deficit for about 3.5 years. Problem still not solved.

• The total personal wealth of Americans is estimated by the Federal Reserve to be $176 trillion, which means all the billionaires own only about four percent of the wealth in the U.S.  

• The top one percent, which includes a lot more than just billionaires, own about one-third of that wealth 

The top 1 percent have lots of protection in the tax code 

• The nine percent below them, own about 40 percent of the nation’s wealth.

That is the crowd that is vulnerable to any meaningful tax increase that will be part of any fool’s errand to reduce the deficit with tax increases. 

• The 40 percent below them own about one-quarter of the nation’s wealth and are struggling to keep their operational heads above water with rising healthcare and childcare bills squeezing budgets much worse than previous generations.  

• The 50 percent below them own only 2-3% of the wealth.  You can’t get blood from that turnip.  

THE GREAT BABY BOOMER WEALTH TRANSFER 

Most of the wealth owned by Americans is owned by Baby Boomers, who will soon be passing that wealth to the next two generations.  Only $11 Trillion of today’s $176 trillion in American wealth lies in tax-deferred accounts that will be taxed when it is withdrawn by the boomer’s heirs, likely over many years, adding to millennial and gen-x income a little bit at a time, not a rich field for revenuers. 

With the estate tax exemption now at $15 million per person, nearly all $88-90 trillion (today’s figures) in boomer wealth will be transferred untaxed, so any federal government bean-counters licking their chops over that wealth are going to be disappointed. 

I listened to a conversation Saturday between two smart people, taxing their imaginations, musing about how the millennial and gen x’ recipients of the boomer wealth transfer, who will then occupy a higher rung on the wealth ladder, might respond. They wondered whether it might change their attitude about government wealth redistribution. That may be interesting to wonder about, but anyone trying to guess how generations below them will think is wasting their valuable brain power. 

That’s what people do – even smart people – when they are stuck – and have no clue how to solve the problem without doing what is politically unacceptable. They change the subject. 

HERE’S THE SUBJECT

• The nation’s debt is far too high, and it must, and will, one day be curbed.

• Billionaires can’t pay off the U.S. debt. 

• The great Baby Boomer wealth transfer will not solve the U.S. debt problem. 

• Tax increases cannot solve the U.S. debt problem.  

It would take a 66% across the board increase to balance the budget with taxes.  

THE ONLY ANSWER – THAT NO-ONE WANTS

There is NO solution involving more taxes on billionaires, or even the entire population that resolves the imbalance between taxes and spending by the U.S. government. 

It’s the spending, stupid, which is not aimed at any reader in particular, but at all readers collectively. A modest tax increase, to accompany a big spending cut may make the medicine go down easier for those who will be receiving much less help from the government, but any tax increase will be expensive sugar pills. It will interfere with the solution more than help it.

Only big spending cuts on the big spending towers will redirect the U.S. budget back to a fiscally responsible, and sustainable path.  That is the single hardest thing for any government to do, and the U.S. government will not do it until its back is against the wall. 

The sooner that happens, the easier it will be for the receiver class of all the government wealth redistribution to accept and endure the necessary correction in their income portfolios.  They will have plenty of company, including among the top 10%, who will lose trillions of dollars of wealth in the stock market, as people spend less and companies earn less. 

A correction will happen.  The world cannot lend the U.S. all the money the U.S. plans to spend in the next 75 years, under today’s budget trajectory.  Seventy-five years goes by quickly.  Sometime in the next 75 years, the U.S. will deal with its debt problem.  It won’t have a choice.  

If it happens when it should, the Great Baby Boomer Wealth Transfer will not be as great as expected, but the nation’s debt will be on a sustainable track, and the generations who inherit our wealth and our national debt will be better for it.

Ralph Bristol is the former long-time morning talk radio host broadcasting on Supertalk 99.7 WTN. He was one of the less provocative and bombastic of conservative radio personalities, more thoughtful and grounded in conservative ideas. He left talk radio in 2018 and retired. He lives in Nashville.