• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
CommentaryPolitics

Project 2025: Will the rich ever pay tax again?

By
Bob Lord
Bob Lord
and
Morris Pearl
Morris Pearl
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Bob Lord
Bob Lord
and
Morris Pearl
Morris Pearl
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 6, 2024, 4:05 PM ET
Bob Lord, an Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow, currently serves as senior advisor on tax policy at the Patriotic Millionaires. Morris Pearl, a former managing director of BlackRock, is the chair of the Patriotic Millionaires.
The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 booth at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C. on Jul. 8.
The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 booth at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C. on Jul. 8. Dominic Gwinn - Middle East Images - Middle East Images - AFP

There’s pretty much nothing to like about Project 2025’s dystopian vision for America. Whether it’s the elimination of abortion rights or the elimination of the Department of Education, it’s all horrifying. Here’s just one of the many appalling declarations in Project 2025: “Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought.” 

Given the radical overall thrust of Project 2025, it’s easy to lose sight of its more mundane contents, like its tax agenda. But the tax proposals of Project 2025, if ever enacted, would be no less dangerous to our happiness and well-being than the restrictions on individual freedom. They would practically guarantee the concentration of the country’s wealth in the hands of a group of billionaires and trillionaires who would be insulated from meaningful federal taxation. The resulting concentration of political power would destroy whatever is left of our democracy, clearing the way for the imposition of Project 2025’s extreme social agenda. 

The most often discussed tax proposals of Project 2025—reducing the corporate tax rate to 18% or less, the individual income tax rate to 30%, the tax rate on dividends and capital gains to 15%, and the maximum estate tax rate to 20%—all obviously move us in that direction.

But a Project 2025 proposal that is receiving much less public attention, Universal Savings Accounts (USA), could do far more damage.  

On the surface, Project 2025’s USA proposal seems like just one more misguided retirement savings incentive that favors the rich. It would allow any taxpayer to contribute up to $15,000 of after-tax earnings to a USA. 

Functionally, USAs would be similar to Roth IRAs. A contribution to a USA, like a contribution to a Roth IRA, would not by itself reduce a person’s tax liability. And, as is the case with a Roth IRA, all the earnings of a USA would escape tax. 

But USAs would not function merely as larger Roth IRAs. Their tax avoidance potential would be infinitely greater. They would have the potential to exempt multi-billion dollar gains, even trillion-dollar gains, from taxation.

Investigative journalists have shown that some of America’s wealthiest billionaires have gigantic Roth IRAs. But these big names grew their Roth IRA fortunes, at least technically, by savvy investing. And that’s where the tax avoidance potential of USAs will be far greater. The Project 2025 white paper calls for USAs to be “highly flexible and for taxpayers to be able to invest their USAs as they see fit, including, for example, in a closely held business.” Current rules applicable to Roth IRAs make investing in a closely held business virtually impossible, except as a purely passive investor. 

That’s a huge difference. If USA holders are able to invest in their own closely held businesses, as Project 2025 contemplates, the potential income tax avoidance is unlimited. After all, although $15,000 is not a lot of money, it’s enough, and certainly, several years of $15,000 deposits into a USA are enough to start a business in one’s garage. This means that the growth of a garage-based business could be shielded entirely from federal income tax.

The list of businesses that started in the founder’s garage include, to name a few, Disney, Mattel, Microsoft, Amazon, Dell, and Google. Subway started as a single small shop and grew to its current size of approximately 37,000 locations. Had USAs been available to the founders of those now enormous companies, several of which now have market capitalizations in the trillions of dollars, the bulk of their lifetime gains would be entirely exempt from federal income tax.

Here’s how it would work: When the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos conceives an idea for a business, they will create a corporation by simply submitting documents to a state government office. The corporation’s value initially will be zero. Then, our future billionaire (or trillionaire) will cause the corporation to issue stock to their tax-free USA in exchange for the modest seed capital needed to start the business. The corporation then can borrow money, issue more stock to outside investors, and hire employees. Eventually, our future mogul will be sitting on a stupefying fortune, all held in a USA, and all entirely exempt from income tax.

The bottom line here is that Project 2025 would have the founders of future mega businesses that start small—and pretty much every business starts small—paying little or no tax on what could be a trillion dollars or more of income over the course of a lifetime. The resulting concentration of the country’s wealth will dwarf even the Gilded Age-like level of wealth concentration that exists today. 

More must-read commentary published by Fortune:

  • An economic catastrophe is lurking beneath Russia’s GDP growth as Putin ‘throws everything into the fireplace’
  • The ‘sustainability recession’ will end soon—and not by choice
  • ‘Godmother of AI’ says California’s well-intended AI bill will harm the U.S. ecosystem
  • The most underrated leadership skill, according to Jake Sullivan

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
About the Authors
By Bob Lord
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Morris Pearl
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

murdochs
CommentaryMedia
OpenAI paid $100 million for a talk show. James Murdoch is eyeing an even bigger deal. The hot new asset class is humanity
By Lin CherryMay 17, 2026
2 hours ago
dennis
CommentaryAI agents
Freshworks CEO: why agile enterprises are winning the AI race — and what they did differently
By Dennis WoodsideMay 17, 2026
2 hours ago
Mary Moreland-Abbott Executive Vice President of Human Resources.
CommentaryRetirement
Gen X is the most indebted generation in America. Their employers can fix that
By Mary MorelandMay 17, 2026
4 hours ago
liberman
Commentarystart-ups
We watched social media concentrate. The same thing is happening in AI, only at a deeper layer
By David Liberman and Daniil LibermanMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
olivier
CommentaryAnthropic
I’ve been studying Big Tech for a long time. What just happened with Anthropic and the Pentagon terrifies me
By Olivier SylvainMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
lawyer
CommentaryLaw
Would you hire the lawyer who just got sanctioned for using AI?
By Alexandra SmythMay 16, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
Politics
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
16 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
5 days ago
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
Future of Work
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
Innovation
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
22 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.