United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is pushing a national wealth tax he says he would pay, even as he took home about $32.3 million last year.
In an interview, Kirby called wealth inequality a danger to our society and backed a national wealth tax and inheritance taxes he said could approach 100%. He said he would pay them and argued lower income taxes with higher taxes on gains in wealth that were never sold would be fairer. The proposal drew swift backlash, much of it aimed at his paycheck, and critics questioned how Kirby, who runs a company that brought in $59.1 billion in revenue last year, could support taxing the wealthy. Kirby has said the views were personal and not about politics or policymaking.