Billionaire Tax And The New Crown With Its Private Guards

Lede

The old kings had castles, guards and tribute; the new kings have shares, lawyers, platforms and tax planners.

Hermit Off Script

Billionaire taxation brings back something old wearing new clothes. In the past, kings, royal families and nobles owned the land, controlled the guards and treated the country like a private estate with peasants attached. Now we look around and see another class with its own security, its own media gravity, its own politicians hovering nearby, and its own strange belief that the country should be grateful for the crumbs. The clothes changed. The crown became a portfolio.

Maybe that is why Trump fits so naturally into this theatre. I am not saying he is literally king of the billionaires. I am saying the performance is royal enough: the court, the favour, the golden room, the idea that power should gather around one man and everyone else should clap. The richest people are often in technology now, but the real pressure points are food, manufacturing, energy, water and the things people cannot live without. If you control those, you do not need a throne. You already have the tap, the socket and the shelf.

If this class really wanted the best for the world, helping poor people would not be treated as a branding exercise after tax planning. Some of them are smart. Some are charismatic. Some are genuinely interested in the future. I will give them that. But the pattern still looks ugly: they keep becoming richer year after year while public services beg for coins, and then we are asked to admire the genius of it all. Fate did not align every planet for them. Systems did. Laws did. Markets did. Governments did. Workers did.

And then I look at Musk‘s interest in British politics, and I do not like the shape of it. The issue is not one tweet or one rumoured donation. The issue is why any foreign billionaire should have enough weight to bend the mood of a country that is already tired, divided and easy to rent. Britain is stronger beside Europe than it is alone waiting for approval from Washington. Without strength, it does not become free. It becomes available.

Trump Corruption Is Where The Argument Reaches Its Highest Point

P.S. Trump corruption is where this argument reaches its highest point. If the richest and most powerful can settle tax problems and investigations around their own family while ordinary people still get chased for small mistakes, then democracy starts looking like a costume. This is not old corruption with a suitcase under the table. It is cleaner, colder and more dangerous. It happens through official documents, legal settlements and political power. That is why it feels like the new monarchy. The king does not need a crown if the system already bows. Tax becomes something for people without enough lawyers, while power calls its own escape route “procedure”.

Garys Economics with Gabriel Zucman

This YouTube video matters because it turns the billionaire tax argument from moral anger into a practical question: how do you tax wealth when the richest people do not live like salaried workers? The strongest point is simple. If a nurse, driver or shop worker pays tax through income, while a billionaire grows richer through assets, shares, borrowing and valuation games, then the tax system is not neutral. It is designed around the wrong person.

“The economist billionaires fear: this is how we get a wealth tax”

The Gabriel Zucman argument, as presented in the video and in his wider work, is not “take everything”. It is a minimum tax standard. The proposal is usually framed around billionaires paying at least 2 per cent of their wealth each year, because many already pay tiny effective rates compared with the size of their fortunes. That is the point: the serious version of wealth taxation is not revenge against success. It is a guardrail against a society where the richest people become untaxable by design.

What does not make sense

• We are told billionaire wealth proves personal brilliance, then the same people need tax loopholes, lobbying and legal shields to protect the miracle.
• We are told wealth will trickle down, but the bucket keeps getting bigger and the floor is still dry.
• We are told politics belongs to voters, while political finance keeps asking whether the donor has a back door.
• We are told private charity is enough, as if hospitals, schools, courts and roads should run on billionaire mood swings.
• We are told Britain must be sovereign, then foreign billionaire attention is treated like a blessing from the sky.

Sense check / The numbers

1. Oxfam said billionaire wealth rose by over 16 per cent in 2025 to US$18.3 trillion, and had increased by 81 per cent since 2020. It also said the number of billionaires passed 3,000 for the first time. [Oxfam]
2. Gabriel Zucman’s proposal for a coordinated minimum tax would require people with more than US$1 billion in wealth to pay at least 2 per cent of their wealth annually, raising an estimated US$200 billion to US$250 billion from about 3,000 taxpayers. [EU Tax Observatory]
3. The same proposal says billionaires’ current effective tax rate is equivalent to about 0.3 per cent of their wealth, while ultra-high-net-worth wealth returns averaged 7.5 per cent a year after inflation over 4 decades. [EU Tax Observatory]
4. The High Pay Centre said the Sunday Times Rich List 2026 put the combined wealth of the UK’s richest 350 people at GBP 784 billion, up 1.4 per cent in 1 year. [High Pay Centre]
5. The House of Commons Library says foreign political donations are banned in the UK, but foreign money can still enter through routes such as UK-registered companies and other permissible structures. The UK Government’s 2026 political finance proposals include checks for donations above GBP 11,180. [House of Commons Library] [GOV.UK]
6. Reuters, AP and the Guardian reported in May 2026 that a settlement connected to Trump’s IRS lawsuit ended current tax claims or examinations involving Trump, his sons, the Trump Organization and related entities; AP said the protection did not apply to future audits. [Reuters] [AP] [Guardian]
7. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed on July 4, 2025, and the IRS says it made major federal tax changes. The law also raised the estate and gift tax exemption to US$15 million per person from 2026, or US$30 million for married couples according to tax advisers. [IRS] [Hughes Hubbard]

The sketch

Scene 1: The old crown
Panel description. A king sits on a high chair while workers carry sacks marked tax and grain.
Dialogue:
King: “I own the land.”
Guard: “And the gate.”
Worker: “And my Tuesday.”

Scene 2: The new crown
Panel description. A billionaire sits behind a glass desk with a chart rising behind him and two guards near the door.
Dialogue:
Billionaire: “I own the platform.”
Lawyer: “And the loophole.”
Worker: “Still my Tuesday.”

Scene 3: The small request
Panel description. A tax officer offers a tiny bill marked 2 per cent while the billionaire points at a rocket-shaped escape hatch.
Dialogue:
Tax officer: “Just a minimum.”
Billionaire: “Tyranny.”
Public: “Try rent.”

What to watch, not the show

• Whether wealth taxes target unrealised wealth fairly without hitting ordinary homeowners or small businesses.
• Whether political donation rules close routes for foreign or hidden money.
• Whether media platforms owned or influenced by billionaires become political machines.
• Whether essential sectors like food, energy, water and housing become private toll booths.
• Whether governments tax wealth seriously or keep polishing the begging bowl.

The Hermit take

Tax is the receipt for living inside civilisation.
A crown made of shares is still a crown.

Keep or toss

Verdict: Keep / Toss.
Keep the serious tax debate.
Toss the fantasy that extreme wealth automatically means wisdom.

Sources

• Oxfam International, billionaire wealth press release: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-wealth-jumps-three-times-faster-2025-highest-peak-ever-sparking
• EU Tax Observatory, Gabriel Zucman billionaire tax blueprint: https://taxobservatory.world/publication/a-blueprint-for-a-coordinated-minimum-effective-taxation-standard-for-ultra-high-net-worth-individuals/
• World Inequality Report 2026, global taxation of multi-millionaires: https://wir2026.wid.world/insight/multi-millionaires-taxation/
• House of Commons Library, foreign political donations in the UK: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/foreign-political-donations-in-the-uk/
• GOV.UK, Representation of the People Bill 2026 political finance summary: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/representation-of-the-people-bill-policy-summaries/political-finance
• High Pay Centre, Sunday Times Rich List 2026 reflections: https://highpaycentre.org/sunday-times-rich-list-2026-our-reflections/
• Guardian, Elon Musk retweet and UK right-wing split: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/25/elon-musk-retweet-andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-reform
• International Bar Association, Musk and UK political donations legislation: https://www.ibanet.org/Musk-exposes-cracks-in-UK-political-donations-legislation
• Reuters, Trump IRS settlement: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-irs-settlement-forever-bars-audits-into-tax-claims-trump-his-family-2026-05-19/
• Associated Press, US drops Trump tax claims: https://apnews.com/article/7bb7a6d8020b903395accc180acf263b
• Guardian, Trump IRS settlement: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns
• IRS, One Big Beautiful Bill provisions: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/one-big-beautiful-bill-provisions
• Hughes Hubbard, estate tax exemption under Trump law: https://www.hugheshubbard.com/news-insights/insights/trump-laws-estate-tax-exemption-is-a-boon-for-wealth-planning
• YouTube, Garys Economics with Gabriel Zucman,”The economist billionaires fear: this is how we get a wealth tax”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRnYfigc3I