Between mid-March and August 5 when the pandemic took hold in the U.S., 467 of the nation’s nearly 650 billionaires have seen their collective wealth balloon by 30% ― an increase of $732 billion, or $5.2 billion a day, according to research from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies.

At a time when millions of U.S. families are stretched to the breaking point, our tax fairness champions U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, have introduced the Make Billionaire’s Pay Act to place a one-time tax on the growth of billionaire wealth between March 18, 2020 and the end of the year.

The Make Billionaires Pay Act would:

• Place a one-time 60% tax on the growth in billionaire wealth between March 18 - December 31, 2020.

• Use that revenue ($422 billion based on Aug. 5 wealth estimates from Forbes) to cover the out-of-pocket medical expenses of all those who are uninsured and those who are under-insured Medicare beneficiaries over the next 12 months during the COVID-19 crisis.

• Leave $310 billion (on Aug. 5) in wealth gains for these 467 billionaires ― an extraordinary sum over 4 1/2 months.

As the rich and powerful continue to profit in the midst of a pandemic, 32 million Americans were receiving expanded unemployment benefits, over 5 million have contracted the coronavirus and over 160,000 have died from it. It’s time that the nation’s billionaires start paying their fair share toward pandemic relief efforts.