Most people are surprised to learn government shutdowns, and the ensuing fingerpointing, haven’t always been a mainstay of American politics. To understand how we got to this point, we must first examine who benefits from shutdowns.
For decades, conservatives in Congress have used one manufactured budget crisis after another to drive a narrative that the government doesn’t work—while quietly enriching their billionaire backers.
The most recent example came just before August recess, when House Republicans advanced a little-noticed government funding bill to gut the Internal Revenue Service base budget by $2.8 billion. Translation? Roll out the red carpet for tax cheats with nine-figure bank accounts.
The numbers don’t lie. In 1990, before shutdown politics became normalized, America had 66 billionaires controlling $240 billion. Today, roughly 700 billionaires hoard over $7 trillion—a 28-fold explosion in wealth. As billionaire wealth exploded, the total share of wealth controlled by the bottom half of the country shrank.
We must tax billionaires to break up the dangerous concentration of wealth that allows them to hold our democracy and economy hostage.
This wasn’t accidental. It happened in part because government dysfunction means big paydays for America’s ultra wealthy, who take advantage of shutdowns and spending cuts to evade taxes, skirt consumer protections to maximize profits, and promote privatization. The current shutdown paused antitrust cases that could break up Amazon and Apple, for instance.
Unsurprisingly, the ultra-wealthy beneficiaries of shutdown chaos are often major donors to far right GOP politicians and outside organizations lobbying for that chaos.
For example, billionaires Jeffrey Yass and Robert Mercer are two of the biggest funders of Club for Growth, a key hard-right group behind the GOP-led 2013 shutdown over the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The ACA wasn’t just healthcare reform—it also raised billions of dollars in new taxes from ultra-wealthy households. Shutting down the government over its possible repeal would have been a no-brainer for Yass and Mercer, both of whom were also engaged in legally questionable tax-avoidance schemes at the time.
In the Club for Growth’s view, repealing the ACA and its taxes on the ultra rich was a win. A shutdown that froze IRS audits and enforcement was a win. Allowing the government to reopen only after Democrats conceded to deep spending cuts was a win. Dysfunction that “proved” the inability of government to function efficiently was a win. The only losers would be the American people.
While the demands in shutdowns vary, the crisis often only resolves with Democrats accepting GOP spending cuts that weaken regulatory capacity and benefit wealthy industries at the expense of everyday Americans.
Conservatives have learned they might lose their nominal objective—like cuts to Medicare or repealing the ACA. But by drawing attention away from their attacks on good government, they win by losing.
While the March 2025 partisan funding bill avoided a shutdown, it slashed $13 billion from domestic priorities, gutted IRS enforcement funding to target wealthy tax cheats, and hobbled regulatory agencies that safeguard working families—while simultaneously empowering the Trump administration (and billionaire allies like Elon Musk’s DOGE) with broad discretion to reallocate remaining funds at will.
Working people are frustrated by this toxic game. We must tax billionaires to break up the dangerous concentration of wealth that allows them to hold our democracy and economy hostage.
Taxing billionaires is a consensus issue, with support rising sharply as the consequences of unchecked, extreme wealth play out.
Recent Impact Research polling found broad and intense support for raising taxes on billionaires among likely voters in 2026 battleground congressional districts and states. And a recent Morning Consult poll found that even 70% of Republicans believe “the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes”—up from 62% just six years ago.
Until Congress addresses the fundamental power imbalance allowing billionaires to benefit from—and drive—government dysfunction, Americans will remain trapped in a game of shutdown chicken. It’s time to tax billionaires and return the power to the people.