How do we use this Forbes data? We first fit a Pareto distribution to the billionaire list and then use the estimated tail parameter to estimate wealth for the top 0.5% of the distribution (top 0.1% in earlier years).2 In effect, we assume that the bottom 99.5% of the distribution is well represented by the AIDIS. [...] Nevertheless, given the limited coverage of the Forbes billionaire lists, we restrict ourselves to only correcting the AIDIS for the top 0.5% of the wealth distribution in recent years. [...] The bottom half of the distribution (50% of the population) earns only 15% of the total national income (see Table 1). [...] Between 2014 and 2022, growth rates at the very top of the distribution - the top 0.1%, top 0.01%, and beyond – far outstripped growth in the middle and bottom of the distribution (Bharti et al., 2024a, Figure 17b). [...] a one percentage point increase in the average wealth tax rate on the top 2% decreases the stock of wealthy taxpayers by at most 2% in the long run, and lead to a reduction of at most .03% in aggregate employment and at most .1% in aggregate value- added.
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