At a recent conference in Washington, a member of the Disney family called for increased taxes on the wealthy, stating, “We don’t need any more money.”
Abigail Disney, the 65-year-old granddaughter of Roy Disney, brother of Walt Disney, addressed attendees at the Patriotic Millionaires conference on Capitol Hill. She spoke to White House officials and fellow affluent participants about the necessity for individuals like herself to contribute more through taxes.
In an interview with Time, Disney asserted, “We can afford to pay more in taxes. We don’t need any more money. We can see that pretty clearly.”
She further expressed, “This is absurd. Can we not all agree that there is a point at which there’s too much money?”
As a documentary filmmaker, Disney has long been an advocate for addressing wealth disparity in America. She believes that privilege is excessively concentrated, often at the detriment of those with the least means.
In a Time essay written before the G20 Summit, Disney noted, “We have the largest billionaire class in the world while 40 percent of our population—including nearly half of our children—are poor or low-income.”
This week was no different, as Disney pushed policies on lawmakers despite the fact that they conflict with the interests of President Donald Trump and his inner-circle.
Her proposals were clear: a surtax for those earning over $1 million and no taxes on the first $45,000 of income for working-class Americans.
Abigail Disney (pictured), 65, granddaughter of Roy Disney, demanded lawmakers hike her taxes during a millionaire’s conference in Washington, arguing, ‘We don’t need any more money’
Disney’s (pictured) proposals were clear: a surtax for those earning over $1 million and no taxes on the first $45,000 of income for working-class Americans
The heiress called for higher taxes on companies that pay low wages – ensuring businesses don’t profit more from underpaying workers than they pay in taxes – and insisted that income from investments face the same tax rate as income from labor.
‘When I get capital gains, it’s because I’m sitting on my tuchus. I mean, it’s literally the opposite of taxing work,’ Disney said.
Disney, with a net worth of nearly $120 million, said she recognizes why some family members and other affluent individuals are uneasy with her efforts to raise taxes and wages, including for those employed at her family’s iconic theme parks.
‘It turns out that it is that hard to believe that someone would actually do something for the greater good and not in their own self-interest,’ she told Time.
In the interview, Disney described a recent lunch outing in Sedona, Arizona, with her sister, where they spent $73 on burgers and a single bottle of sparkling water – an amount she labeled as ‘ridiculous.’
She drew attention to the fact that Disney employees at the California theme park had to organize a food bank for coworkers to cope with low pay, even as the company continues to give relatively little to the county food bank.
‘For the first time in my life, I have begun to worry about my own safety and wonder if my family will be safe,’ Disney wrote.
‘When violence becomes the only recourse poor and desperate people have to achieve political power and/or the means to support their families, we will only have ourselves to blame,’ she added.
The heiress (pictured) called for higher taxes on companies that pay low wages – ensuring businesses don’t profit more from underpaying workers than they pay in taxes – and insisted that income from investments face the same tax rate as income from labor
She drew attention to the fact that Disney employees at the California theme park had to organize a food bank for coworkers to cope with low pay, even as the company continues to give relatively little to the county food bank
Disney (pictured in blue) also spoke at the IMF/World Bank annual meeting last month and pointed to a link between extreme wealth inequality and climate crisis
She frequently links extreme wealth inequality to climate crisis, warning that the wealthy’s excessive consumption is driving environmental breakdown and ‘putting us all at risk,’ according to her essay for Time.
‘We all live on the same planet, and despite what some rabid billionaires may think, traveling to another planet is no solution to destroying this one.’
The average billionaire, she noted, creates in 90 minutes the same volume of greenhouse gases the average person produces in an entire year.
‘It’s hard to watch us get here because I don’t hear very many people feeling revolted by the idea of a trillionaire,’ Disney told the outlet.
‘It would take the average worker 16 million years to get to a trillion dollars,’ she added. ‘Sixteen million years longer than there have been human beings.’
Disney herself has grappled with her family’s vast wealth, admitting repeatedly that she feels guilty about the advantages she was born into.
In a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, Disney confessed: ‘I woke up one day and realized that, just by virtue of being born lucky, I had so much more than everyone else. I don’t think I’ve slept well since I figured that out.’
Disney revisited the subject at the IMF/World Bank annual meeting last month where she warned about the far-reaching consequences of wealth inequality for the world.
For years, the documentary filmmaker (pictured) has fought to address America’s wealth inequality, believing that privilege is overly concentrated and often comes at the expense of those who can least afford it
Disney (pictured) herself has grappled with her family’s vast wealth, admitting repeatedly that she feels guilty about the advantages she was born into
‘I can only speak to my own experience. I grew up in a family with wealth and it was a family that decided to take the wealth it had and turn it into more wealth,’ she said during the conference.
‘My thesis statement is this. There is such a thing as too much money and it’s bad for the world for sure, but it’s also bad for the people who own it.’
‘It is painful, soul-crushing, alienating, and morally corrosive,’ she added.
