Planet Money · Friday, September 25, 2026
Over the past four decades, preferential tax policies have significantly contributed to the rise of a wealthy class of private business owners, propelling them into the top 1% of income earners. This group, characterized by their ownership of pass-through businesses, has accumulated substantial wealth that was previously not well-documented.
“Today on the show, how 40 years of preferential tax policies have helped propel a stealthy wealthy class of private business owners into the 1 percent.”
“The top 1% share of it, it more than doubled over the last half century.”