As the children of billionaire entrepreneurs, you might forgive John Driscoll’s two sons for thinking they don’t have to worry about making money.
But the 64-year-old executive vice president of Walgreens insists that’s not the case. That’s because most of Driscoll’s fortune will go to charity, not to his sons, Daniel and Jack, both in their late 20s.
“I have always made it clear to my sons that I will pay for their education, but it is up to them to choose their own path,” he told DailyMail.com.
Driscoll is on a mission to eradicate the so-called “nepo baby” culture, arguing that the intergenerational spread of wealth is destroying the American Dream.
He made headlines earlier this month when he and his successor, Abigail Disney, signed a campaign letter calling for ultra-wealthy people like himself to pay more taxes. They are among 250 millionaires and billionaires who support the ‘Proud to Pay More’ initiative.
Walgreens executive vice president John Driscoll and his sons Daniel (left) and Jack (right) are spearheading a campaign to tax ultra-wealthy people like himself.
“I have always made it clear to my sons that I will pay for their education, but it is up to them to choose their own path,” Driscoll told DailyMail.com.
“We have a very complex tax system that incentivizes people to cheat on their taxes and encourages a gaming mentality,” he said.
“In particular, our inheritance tax system is broken and needs to be dismantled to ensure the super-rich pay their fair share.”
Tax experts are preparing for what they call a “grand wealth transfer” in which parents and grandparents will inherit trillions of dollars to heirs. According to estimates by consulting firm Cerulli Associates, the total amount will reach $84 trillion over the next 20 years.
And generational wealth is also driving the housing market. Redfin data shows that 4 in 10 homebuyers under 30 receive money from family members for a down payment.
But Driscoll said the continued distribution of wealth from baby boomers, who benefit from economic conditions more than their Millennial and Gen Z children, means wealth remains concentrated at the top and meritocracy is eradicated. Warning that this means that
Driscoll’s grandparents (pictured) are Irish immigrants who came to Boston after a poor upbringing in County Cork, Ireland.
Mr. Driscoll is an executive vice president at Walgreens, a position he has held for the past year.
Although there is no federal inheritance tax in the United States, several states impose their own taxes on inheritances.
However, heirs may be liable for federal estate taxes that apply to estates exceeding $13.61 million. For married couples, there is a total deduction of $27.22 million. This levy, known as the “death tax,” ranges from 18 to 40 percent.
Driscoll did not say how much further he wants to increase those levies.
His passion for this issue comes from the fact that he considers himself a beneficiary of the American Dream. Previous estimates put Driscoll’s net worth at $1.7 million, but he now admits it is “significantly more” than that figure.
His grandparents were Irish immigrants who moved to Boston from a poor upbringing in County Cork, Ireland.
His grandfather, John Patrick Driscoll, went to work drilling coal for the Everett Gas Company and then took classes to become a third-class engineer at MIT.
Meanwhile, Driscoll’s father became a lawyer, and Driscoll himself had a career in the health care industry. But he insists his family wouldn’t be as lucky moving today.
In a letter submitted to the Proud to Pay More campaign, he wrote: “The sad truth today is that even if my grandparents came to America and tried just as hard to get ahead, it is unlikely that they would succeed. Their grandchildren would become millionaires. It will be.”
The question of whether the ultra-wealthy pay enough taxes has been hotly debated in the United States, with Mr. Biden last year announcing a “billionaire minimum income tax” that would require the nation’s wealthiest to pay at least 20% of their income. ” is proposed.
A 2021 study by ProPublica found that 25 of America’s richest people, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, paid an average “true tax rate” of 3.4% on their income between 2014 and 2018. It turned out that he had been paying.
And, according to a study by Proud to Pay More, the United States has the highest percentage of billionaires among the G20 countries.
Americans have the highest percentage of billionaires among G20 countries, according to Proud to Pay More research
Approximately 4.95% of the US population owns $1 million or more, compared to 2.2% of Britons and 3.53% of Australians.
But tax evasion by America’s super-wealthy has long been a thorn in the side of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
IRS Commissioner Danny Wuerffel told reporters last year that the budget cuts would allow the tax agency to address “the complex methods used by the wealthiest taxpayers to hide their income and avoid paying their fair share of taxes.” He said it had become difficult.
The organization launched a historic crackdown on tax fraud among the ultra-wealthy, with its employees recovering $122 million from the nation’s billionaires.