Taxes tend to spark thoughts about fairness. Every time I sit down to calculate deductions and watch a noticeable slice of my paycheck head off to Uncle Sam, I start wondering: What if the richest Americans paid the same percentage of taxes on their income that everyday workers do?
That curiosity led me to ask ChatGPT a simple but provocative question: “What would happen if billionaires were taxed at the same rate as the middle class?” The response I received offered more depth than expected — and revealed just how skewed our tax system really is.
ChatGPT began by clearing up one of my key misconceptions. Citing investigations from ProPublica and PolitiFact, it noted that the top 25 wealthiest Americans currently pay about 16% on average in federal income taxes — not zero or next to nothing, as I had assumed. On the other hand, middle-income households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 usually pay effective tax rates anywhere between 0% and 15%.
In other words, billionaires aren’t necessarily paying less than teachers — at least not on paper under the current system. But that’s where the real issue starts to unfold.
The AI made it clear that the real inequity lies in how various types of income are taxed. Wealthy individuals often enjoy lower effective tax burdens not because of different rates, but because of how their money is earned and taxed. “The current system taxes work more than wealth,” it said. That means wage earners like me are taxed upfront, while billionaires only pay taxes on capital gains after they sell assets — if they ever do.
This brings us to a financial tactic ChatGPT described as the “buy-borrow-die” approach, a favored method among the ultra-rich to sidestep taxes legally. Here’s how it works: rather than selling stock and triggering a tax bill, billionaires borrow against their growing portfolios (which isn’t taxable), live off that borrowed money, and then pass those assets to their heirs with minimal taxation once they die. Meanwhile, average workers can’t delay taxes on income, nor can they borrow against retirement savings without penalties.
To drive the point home, ChatGPT referenced ProPublica’s reporting: “The top 25 billionaires saw their wealth grow by $401 billion from 2014-2018, but paid just $13.6 billion in federal income taxes — an effective rate of 3.4% on wealth growth.”
That 3.4% hit hard. While the ultra-wealthy may be following the law on declared income, the majority of their gains — their actual rise in wealth — remains taxed at a level that’s a fraction of what most wage earners pay.
Then I asked: what would change if billionaires were taxed like the rest of us, say, at 15% to 22% on their wealth growth? According to ChatGPT’s estimate, if the top 25 billionaires had paid a 20% rate on those gains, their tax bill would have ballooned to around $80 billion — rather than $13.6 billion.
“Extrapolate that across approximately 1,000 billionaires?” it added. “You’re talking hundreds of billions in added revenue annually.”
So where could all that extra money go? The AI suggested that those funds could significantly expand access to healthcare — potentially paving the way toward universal coverage — or make public college education and pre-K widely accessible. Infrastructure could finally receive serious investment, including cleaner energy initiatives. And for once, there might be room to reduce the national debt instead of growing it every year.
ChatGPT also emphasized that this revenue wouldn’t just pad government accounts — it could “stabilize the economy by boosting the spending power of everyday Americans.” In other words, addressing inequality by lifting everyone, not just those struggling the most.
The biggest surprise? Realizing that this isn’t about billionaires breaking laws or ignoring their taxes. The system itself makes it legal — and easy — for wealth to grow almost entirely tax-free, while regular workers face immediate and unavoidable deductions. As ChatGPT said, “Middle-class families can’t defer taxes on wages or borrow against stocks tax-free.” It’s a core imbalance that helps explain why the rich keep getting richer.
After digging into the AI’s perspective, I came to see that the debate over billionaire taxation isn’t just about who pays more — it’s about whether we’re taxing the right things in the first place. Wealth accumulation through investments, stock appreciation and tax deferral gives the ultra-rich a massive advantage that’s often hidden behind seemingly “fair” rates.
According to ChatGPT, taxing billionaires more like the middle class wouldn’t just raise massive revenues. It could reshape America’s financial priorities and possibly restore some public faith in the fairness of the tax code.
Maybe the real issue isn’t whether the wealthy should pay more — but whether our system makes any sense at all in a world where fortunes grow faster through assets than labor. “The U.S. could significantly reshape its fiscal and social landscape,” ChatGPT concluded — if we’re willing to rethink how we tax.
