Naomi Klein, Ilana Glazer Call for Wealth Taxes and Tech IPO Block

By Grace Kim

The global billionaire class increased its wealth by 40% in two years, according to Naomi Klein and Ilana Glazer, whose joint column calls for billionaire taxes and a block on major technology IPOs.

Klein and Glazer set their proposal against what they call a divided country in crisis. They say the Trump administration’s sunny economic forecast obscures millions of Americans struggling to find and keep jobs, absorb rising living costs and avoid losing health insurance.

What do the wealth numbers show?

The authors say nearly 3,000 billionaires worldwide hold combined wealth equal to one-fifth of the world’s yearly output. Nearly 1,000 billionaires live and do business in the United States, according to their column.

Klein and Glazer identify tax loopholes, corporate mergers and tech IPOs as tools of billionaire wealth. They argue that founders and investors gain when companies go public, then use their money and influence to finance further consolidation and political corruption instead of paying what they describe as their fair share of taxes and redistributing resources.

Takeaway: The authors start with concentrated wealth and target the mechanisms that can enlarge it.

Which billionaires does the column single out?

• The authors say Elon Musk became an instant trillionaire when SpaceX went public in June, on the backs of workers’ pensions. They also say he is bankrolling Republican midterm campaigns with a small percentage of his gains.
• Klein and Glazer identify Oracle’s Larry Ellison as seventh on the Forbes billionaires list. They say he backed the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger, which they describe as destroying the film industry and the livelihoods of Americans who work in it.
• The authors say Google’s Sergey Brin spent $100 million opposing California’s Prop 40, a one-time wealth tax that would direct funds toward healthcare and other public services.

Together, the examples connect market wealth to political spending and corporate strategy. Klein and Glazer argue that mergers, tax rules and public listings can deepen billionaire power even when companies generate substantial valuations.

Takeaway: The authors frame market access as both a financial advantage and a political weapon.

Why do they want new tech IPOs blocked?

Klein and Glazer say the Trump administration and tech investors present IPOs as market success stories in which U.S. investors can gain from higher valuations. Their counterargument centers on who carries the downside: ordinary Americans may end up owning the stock in retirement accounts without consenting to the risk.

They write that problems at a private company or with its products can become problems for everyone invested in the stock after it begins trading. They cite the 2008 crisis as evidence that regular people end up holding the bag when a speculative investment bubble bursts.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI are immediate targets. Klein and Glazer say the companies intend to go public in the near future, recently exposed major security flaws and openly acknowledge enormous amounts of debt. They say a listing would lift cofounders and investors—some already billionaires—into a new tier of private wealth.

If the technology fails or the companies miss their financial promises, Klein and Glazer say Americans will face financial damage while company founders and investors retain the upside. They also argue that the 10 most valuable public companies already sit in tech, so the U.S. economy depends on the stability of a single industry. They cite that sector’s history of bubbles and crashes, including what they describe as Theranos’s outright fraud, as evidence of the danger.

The authors describe June’s highly contentious SpaceX IPO as already risky for ordinary investors. They warn that additional speculative tech listings could become too much for the market to bear.

Klein and Glazer write: “If and when the AI bubble bursts, it will take all of us with it, investors or not.” They add that recessions level lives indiscriminately worldwide, while billionaires have enough resources to walk away relatively unscathed.

Takeaway: The authors see the next listings spreading technology risk across the public while concentrating the upside among a small group.

What changes do the authors demand?

Klein and Glazer call for wealth taxes on billionaires and legislation starting in California and New York. They say that step is necessary but insufficient.

They also call for collective action and legal or legislative barriers to impending tech IPOs. Their argument: public listings can mint new billionaires, expand inequality and transfer the AI industry’s enormous risks onto regular Americans.

In their closing appeal, the authors warn billionaires are bulldozing working people and the environment on their way to the bank. Their prescription is blunt: “Tax the billionaires. Block the IPOs.”

Takeaway: The authors’ sequence is to tax existing wealth first and restrict the IPO channel that can create more.

Who is making the argument?

• Naomi Klein is a Guardian US columnist and contributing writer. She is professor of climate justice and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her latest book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World, is co-written with Astra Taylor.
• Ilana Glazer is a comedian and video-podcaster. She co-created Broad City, wrote and starred in Babes, made her Broadway debut last year in Goodnight, and Good Luck, and now hosts the comedy and socio-political video-podcast It’s Open With Ilana Glazer.

The immediate test is whether California and New York move on billionaire wealth taxes before Anthropic and OpenAI move toward public markets.