‘It’s just about fairness’: United’s CEO doubles down on a wealth tax despite his $32 million pay
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times in mid-October, Kirby said wealth inequality “has become a danger to our society” and called for a national wealth tax, plus inheritance taxes that “get close to 100% at some level.” “I would pay them,” he added.
Key points
- National wealth taxes failed in Europe, where countries including France, Sweden, and Germany abandoned them amid concerns about capital flight, administrative costs, and disappointing revenues.” A few European countries have held on: Norway, Spain, and Switzerland still levy net wealth taxes, according to the Tax Foundation.
- “We should have a national wealth tax—it won’t work by state because people will just move,” he told the Times, as Fortune reported.
- Fox Business asked United how Kirby squared his pay with his warnings about inequality; the company didn’t respond.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby took home about $32.3 million in total compensation last year, according to Fortune ’s reporting on United’s proxy statement.
Additional details
- If it were up to him, he said, he would prefer a system “where we had lower income taxes, and higher taxes, or some kind of taxes, on the gain in wealth.” The case against taxing wealth In practice, the idea draws pointed objections.
- An annual wealth tax hits it every year, and she argues that gives the wealthiest Americans, and their capital, a reason to leave.
- “If Kirby believes his wealth could be better used to improve others’ lives, he is free to put it toward that purpose,” she said.
- But opponents spent about $378 million against it, while the yes campaign raised $33.5 million, and Silicon Valley voters broke against it even as Los Angeles and San Francisco voted yes.
- 3 election, voters rejected Proposition 40, the so-called billionaire tax, which would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of state residents worth more than $1 billion.
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