Some of the Art World’s Largest Donors Have Paid Millions to Squelch a Wealth Tax

A decades-long campaign by the ultra-wealthy, including the Koch, deVos, Mars, Bass, and Walton families, has successfully misinformed United States taxpayers about what the estate tax actually is and who it affects.

Image of a mural depicting Charles and David Koch, commissioned by Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider (photograph courtesy Eden, Janine, and Jim, via Flickr)

The Democratic candidates for the presidency — especially Warren and Sanders — have proposed establishing new “wealth taxes” to address income inequality in the US. This is an important conversation for our country to have, because income inequality is at a five-decade high now in the US, and has insidious effects on the entire population. But these proposals would be difficult to implement, and there’s concern that such taxes might even be subject to a constitutional challenge.

But before we get lost in that debate, I want to reacquaint everyone with the tax we already have on the books that addresses income inequality: the Estate Tax. A decades-long campaign by the ultra-wealthy has successfully confused and misinformed United States taxpayers about what the estate tax actually is and who it affects. Among those families are several of the art world’s biggest patrons, including the Koch, deVos, Mars, Bass, and Walton families.

So what is the estate tax? …read more…

This article first appeared on Hyperallergic on March 13, 2020.