Comparing Billionaires’ Fortunes with The Public Services they Could Fund: Who Needs the Money More?

America’s 885 billionaires shattered all previous records when their collective wealth rocketed past $7 trillion at the close of business June 3, 2025, according to the latest Americans for Tax Fairness analysis of Forbes data. That is up an astounding $4.1 trillion, or 141%, in just the seven and a half years since enactment of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law, a $1.9 trillion tax giveaway heavily slanted towards the rich. Most of that law is due to expire at the end of this year, but President Trump and Congressional Republicans are attempting to pass an extension along with other tax cuts that altogether total $5.7 trillion in lost revenue and again heavily favors the wealthy. They would partially pay for it with over a trillion dollars in cuts  to public services including Medicaid and food assistance.

Source: Americans for Tax Fairness

The American people don’t want to give billionaires another tax handout. A recent poll by Data for Progress found that 74% of likely voters, including 72% of independents and 60% of Republicans, believe that billionaires pay too little in taxes, while only 5% of voters think they pay too much. A Navigator poll found that 82% of voters believe that the Republican Party is looking out for billionaires’ economic interests, and that 52% believed Democratic politicians were as well. That means that at least one-third of voters think that both parties serve the needs of billionaires. It’s time for the politicians to get in line with their constituents and demand billionaires contribute more to the nation that helped make their fortunes. 

Who Needs the Money More: Billionaires or Ordinary Families? 

To give an idea of the scale of billionaire wealth as well as the misdistribution of national resources, following are individual fortunes compared with public investments they could fund but that Republicans are trying to cut because we “don’t have the money.” (Budget cuts are drawn from a menu of proposed options prepared by the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee. Funding covers 10 years.)

Elon Musk ($421 billion) vs. Federal Medicaid Funding ($387 billion)

Medicaid is a joint federal-state health insurance program that covers low-income families, older people, those with disabilities and many others. Under current law, the federal government must provide at least half the funding for each state (it provides more than half for low-income states). Republicans want to remove that 50% floor, so many states will be burdened with more of the program’s costs when Medicaid is already the single biggest budget item in every state. The likely result is that many states will be unable to make up for the loss of federal dollars and residents will lose their healthcare. Meanwhile, in the first weeks of the Trump administration, Musk violated the U.S. Constitution, upended countless lives and threatened our form of government–all in order to make himself even richer. Who needs the money more?

Mark Zuckerberg ($230 billion) vs. Tax Savings for Single Parents ($192 billion)

How much taxpayers owe in taxes depends in part on their “filing status”. A single individual in general pays more in taxes than a married couple on the same amount of income because it costs more to support a couple than an individual. The filing status for a single parent is called “head of household”–it also offers lower taxes than the single-filing status because there are kids to support. Republicans have frequently threatened to eliminate the head of household filing status, in effect raising taxes on single parents. In order to curry favor with the Trump administration, Zuckerberg’s Meta has abandoned its efforts to curb disinformation on its platforms, allowing dangerous lies to flourish. Who needs the money more?

Jeff Bezos ($221 billion) vs Uncompensated Care ($229 billion)

Medicare provides additional financial support to hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients without insurance or the ability to pay out-of-pocket–dispense what’s known as “uncompensated care.” Though Republicans claim their proposed changes would “reform” the system, their estimated savings of almost $230 billion over 10 years implies that hospitals with a lot of poor, uninsured patients will get less compensation for their care; fewer of those patients will get care; or some combination of both. Bezos has abruptly turned from Trump critic to Trump sycophant, changing the editorial rules of his Washington Post to benefit the returned president and receiving lucrative federal contracts in return. Who needs the money more?

Jensen Huang ($123 billion) vs Student Loan Relief ($127 billion)

Republicans plan to repeal President Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which has reduced the cost of college for 17.2 million people by waiving up to $20,000 of federal student loans owed by each borrower and eliminating student debt for borrowers who have already made 20 years of repayments. Jensen Huang, the CEO of AI chip manufacturing giant Nvidia, has been forcing his employees to work round the clock to keep corporate profits up, claiming he wants to “torture them into greatness.” Who needs the money more?

Michael Bloomberg ($105 billion) vs Accessible Medicaid ($100 billion)

Republicans have proposed creating more red-tape requirements for Medicaid recipients, which would strip healthcare from up to 36 million Americans, including low-income mothers taking care of children; people with disabilities; and students. Healthcare is a human right and should not be made harder to access by creating more bureaucracy and paperwork for Medicaid beneficiaries. Micheal Bloomberg throws his wealth around to buy his way into political office. Who needs the money more? 

Stephen Schwarzman ($43 billion) vs Childcare Credit ($55 billion)

Republicans have proposed eliminating the Credit for Child and Dependent Care, which is designed to help parents offset the cost of childcare expenses and currently benefits over 6.5 million families. Mega Republican donor and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman has spent his career essentially looting American families and small businesses through his private-equity companies. Who needs the money more? 

Phil Knight ($30 billion) vs Obamacare Subsidies ($35 billion)

Republicans want to make health insurance more expensive for families by rolling back an improvement the Biden administration made to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). That reform allowed for the cost of insuring a whole family and not just one member of it to be counted when deciding if that family was eligible for ACA subsidies. Phil Knight’s Nike corporation has used sweatshops and forced labor to produce its sneakers and other apparel. Who needs the money more? 

Elaine Marshall ($28 billion) vs Lifetime Learning Credit ($26 billion) 

Republicans have proposed ending the Lifetime Learning Credit which provides students up to $10,000 for college tuition and other educational expenses. This credit is among the tools with which middle-class families can afford a college education. Elaine Marshall’s inherited fortune comes from the fossil fuel industry, which is mainly responsible for the planet’s climate crisis.  Who needs the money more? 

Thomas Frist ($31 billion) vs State-Directed Medicaid Payment ($25 billion)

Republicans have proposed to arbitrarily cap the amount states receive from the federal government through Medicaid, threatening the finances of a program that covers over 72 million Americans. Frist is a founder of HCA, the nation’s largest chain of for-profit hospitals. In the early part of this century, HCA paid $1.7 billion in criminal and civil penalties and fines for what was at the time “by far the largest recovery ever reached by the government in a health care fraud investigation.” Who needs the money more? 

Rupert Murdoch ($23 billion) vs Nursing Home Care ($22 billion)

Nursing homes have been a top target of private-equity firms, which in their quest for higher profits cut staff, often leading to higher death rates. President Biden attempted to prevent this outrage by implementing common-sense protections for staff and residents, but Republicans have proposed repealing those minimum staffing standards for long-term-care facilities. Conservative media tycoon and Republican megadonor Rupert Murdoch has set the vitriolic tone for American politics through his ownership of Fox News, New York Post, and Wall Street Journal. Who needs the money more? 

Peter Thiel ($21 billion) vs Social Services ($15 billion)

Republicans have proposed eliminating the Social Services Block Grant to states, which provides funding for critical services to individuals and families, including child day care and protective services for children. Roughly 56 percent of SSBG services benefit children. Peter Thiel is an ultra-rightwing billionaire famous for saying “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” and using middle-class retirement savings plans to stash billions of dollars completely tax free. He was more responsible than any other single person for the political rise of Vice President JD Vance, bankrolling almost the entirety of his Senate Super PAC. Who needs the money more?