Your Evening Briefing: The Rich Are a Lot Richer Thanks to the GOP

The richest Americans are swimming in a bigger pool of cash thanks to Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Revenue from the U.S. estate tax has been cut in half in just two years, the IRS reports, just as dynastic wealth has skyrocketed. Some $9.3 billion in estate taxes were paid by 1,275 wealthy families in 2020. As recently as 2018, that figure was more than $20 billion paid by nearly 5,500 families. It’s all largely the result of the 2017 tax overhaul pushed through by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was then majority leader, and signed by Trump. The package doubled the amount America’s rich can pass on to heirs without triggering the estate tax. In the last five years, U.S. billionaires have doubled their collective net worth to more than $5 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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