In about half the states in America the growth in the fortunes of local billionaires during the pandemic exceeds—in many cases, dwarfs—the combined gaps forecast for state budgets in 2020 and 2021 caused by the medical and financial crises.
California’s 154 billionaires saw their collective net worth leap $175 billion between March 18 and June 17, three months later. (March 18 is roughly when the coronavirus shutdown began and the date that Forbes published its annual report on the wealth of billionaires.) That’s almost double the Golden State’s budget gap over the next two years, estimated to be somewhere between $89 billion and $95 billion. Similarly, New York’s billionaire class grew $77 billion wealthier during the “pandemic spring,” a bonanza almost six times the size of the projected $13.3 billion gap in the state’s budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
There are 23 states, among the 48 (plus the District of Columbia) for which there are relevant budget projections, in which local billionaires’ wealth gain exceeds estimated budget gaps, ranging from the $85 billion advantage held by Washington State’s 12 billionaires to the $740 million edge enjoyed by Missouri’s five richest residents.
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Altogether, the nation’s 600-plus billionaires saw their fortunes balloon by a total of almost $600 billion during one of the roughest three-month patches in the nation’s history, a time that saw 45 million Americans lose their jobs, over 2 million contract coronavirus and almost 120,000 die from it. Reports covering billionaire wealth growth over that period in two dozen states can be found here.
Unlike the federal government, which can borrow its way through a recession, states must balance their budgets each year. So those holes must be filled by spending cuts, tax increases, or some combination—all of which tend to prolong and deepen recessions. State and local governments have already laid off 1.5 million workers, mostly from education, with more painful cuts coming to schools, roads, hospitals, public-safety agencies and more.
— source americansfortaxfairness.org | Jul 15, 2020