My students learn that everyone pays taxes, and then I read the ProPublica investigation showing the 25 richest Americans paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 3.4% from 2014 to 2018. The trick is simple: never sell. Borrow against your stock, live off the loans, and let the gains compound untaxed until death wipes the slate through stepped-up basis. The White House proposal answers this directly: a 25% minimum tax on households worth more than $100 million, covering unrealized gains, hitting roughly the top 0.01% and raising an estimated $360 billion over a decade. That is not a tax on teachers with a 401(k). It is a tax on a loophole you need nine figures to use.
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