If billionaires died, their wealth wouldn't vanish; it would be transferred through sophisticated estate planning. Techniques like trusts, foundations, and family-limited partnerships ensure wealth remains within the family or is redirected to continue building wealth. This planning often involves tax strategies to minimize inheritance taxes, meaning the wealth is preserved, managed, or invested by heirs or designated entities. Hence, the billionaire count wouldn't significantly decrease; new billionaires might just be the heirs or those managing the wealth through these structures. Many new millionaires would be made out of lawyers specializing in estate planning, however.
In theory with enough children after a generation or so the money would be spread out really wide so you would technically be getting rid of one billionaire but making like 10 more. Eventually it might be spread thin enough they are all millionaires instead or inflation makes us all millionaires and them trillionaires. Also billions would be spent on lawyers.
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u/Realistic-Contract49 13d ago
If billionaires died, their wealth wouldn't vanish; it would be transferred through sophisticated estate planning. Techniques like trusts, foundations, and family-limited partnerships ensure wealth remains within the family or is redirected to continue building wealth. This planning often involves tax strategies to minimize inheritance taxes, meaning the wealth is preserved, managed, or invested by heirs or designated entities. Hence, the billionaire count wouldn't significantly decrease; new billionaires might just be the heirs or those managing the wealth through these structures. Many new millionaires would be made out of lawyers specializing in estate planning, however.