Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg Gerard Julian/AFP and Nicolas Liponne/NurPhoto

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have put forward the two most ambitious plans in the Democratic primary field to tax the wealth of the richest Americans, shrink their giant fortunes, and curb their economic power.

Income inequality in the US is reaching levels not seen since the 1920s, researchers say, sparking a fierce debate among Democratic candidates about how to narrow it.

„At the top, wealth is no longer about insurance — it’s really about power. Having a lot of wealth allows you to have disproportionate influence on society,“ Emmanuel Saez, an economist, told Business Insider.

Here’s how much smaller the top 11 billionaires‘ fortunes would be if Sanders‘ or Warren’s proposed wealth tax had been around since 1982, the first year Forbes magazine started estimating wealth.

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Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have put forward the two most ambitious plans in the Democratic primary field to tax the wealth of the richest Americans and shrink their giant fortunes.

Both Sanders and Warren aim to sharply curb the economic power that the superrich have amassed in recent decades — and use the money to finance new social programs like „Medicare for All“ and tuition-free college to benefit working-class Americans.

Research has found that the nation’s riches are increasingly confined at the top of the economic pyramid.

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, economists who have provided analysis for both Warren and Sanders‘ campaigns, found that the 400 richest Americans had more wealth than the 150 million adults in the bottom 60% of wealth distribution, The Washington Post reported in February.

„Wealth for the ordinary American family is safety. It allows you to absorb economic shocks such as losing a job,“ Saez told Business Insider. „At the top, wealth is no longer about insurance — it’s really about power. Having a lot of wealth allows you to have disproportionate influence on society.“

Here’s how much smaller the top 11 billionaires‘ fortunes would be if Bernie Sanders‘ or Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax had been around since 1982

11 Bilder Open slideshow