The combined $16.1 trillion could run the US government for almost three years!

3,028 known billionaires* There's no legal or often practical requirement to publicly disclose the 9-figure status.

The thing is the government doesn't need that money as much as the people do. The government can just manufacture as much money as it needs to do whatever it wants. So if you're a billionaire and you decide to give all your money to the government thinking that'll do any good, that's a huge skill issue. You could've done a lot more good with that money than to just throw it in the money hole Onion-style.

> America has a massive overspending problem

What is the right amount of spending? And if the answer is “less than current tax/other revenue” then how should the budget cuts be allocated with goals and implementation plans that are sustained enough to produce real effect? You mention that government spending is not a party-specific issue; and this is certainly true. But I don’t see how forward progress can be made in a winner-take-all environment that shifts polarity every 4-8 years. And when the utilitarian value of compromise and shared long-term goals is treated as nil. And it definitely doesn’t seem to be improving…

In any case, possibly taxing the incomprehensibly wealthy in our midst wouldn’t produce a significant effect relative to other measures; but we do all sorts of things in civic life that are valueless in an economic sense, but serve something else. People stand at attention, remove their caps and lay their right hand on their precordium when the national anthem is played. It symbolizes respect for some (supposedly) shared ideals. Similarly, fairly taxing all citizens symbolizes something ethically important even if it results in just as much economic value as doffing your cap at a ballgame.