3 Famous Millionaires That Are Happy To Pay Higher Taxes

From Donald Trump's 2016 brag that not paying taxes "makes me smart" to Elon Musk complaining in 2025 about taxes, the ultra-rich trying to get out of paying more to the government may hardly raise eyebrows anymore. After all, with inflation remaining elevated, medical expenses on the rise, and wealth gaps growing, who realistically wouldn't want to fork over less in taxes each year? But as a new open letter, Time To Win, released just in time for the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos shows, hundreds of millionaires around the world think they should, in fact, be paying more. Among the signatories are several famous names, including Mark Ruffalo, Abigail Disney, and Jeffrey Gural. 

Proving that stances on the topic are far more divided in the upper echelons of wealth, almost 400 millionaires and billionaires across 24 different countries signed the letter advocating for higher taxes on the rich to reduce wealth gaps and set the world on track for a better economic future. The letter's timing is also notable beyond the Davos meeting, because it follows threats the ultra-rich have made in late 2025 and early January 2026 to leave states like California, Washington, and New York over wealth taxes. The main body of the letter is 425 words long, but the blunt message is clear: "Tax us. Tax the super rich." 

There are various legal ways to avoid paying taxes, but Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo's ("Poor Things," "Spotlight," "The Avengers" franchise) signature on the Time to Win letter suggests he may believe those shouldn't apply to people above a certain income level. This sentiment is nothing new for the actor, especially when it comes to taxing the ultra-rich. He's been involved with the movement for at least a few years, having previously signed a similar letter titled "In Tax We Trust" in 2022 that advocated for a fairer tax system. Then in 2023, Ruffalo posted on X, "When you tax billionaires at 90 percent, they're still fabulously rich and you have the resources to rebuild a healthy and happy middle class across the nation."

Ruffalo's own net worth is estimated to be around $35 million, making him among Hollywood's highest-grossing actors. While his net worth may seem low compared to the net worths of billionaires, it still places him squarely in the top 1% of America's wealthiest people. 

Also signing the letter was heiress and activist Abigail Disney, the great-granddaughter of Disney company founder Walt Disney. Using her familial ties and inheritance to her advantage, she has made waves by advocating for better wages for Disney parks employees and criticizing the hefty salary of former Disney CEO Bob Iger. And, despite having an estimated net worth of $120 million, she's also not quiet about her stance on taxing the rich.

Like Ruffalo, Disney's signing of the letter reinforces previous statements she's made on the subject. A longtime member of advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires (one of the sponsors behind the Time to Win letter), Disney has openly promoted restructuring the American tax system for fairer wealth distribution. In a 2020 interview with Bloomberg Television (via YouTube), Disney likewise called her inherited money a "privilege" and said that a 1% to 2% wealth tax would be highly valuable to the economy. She further emphasized this view in a 2025 interview with The Guardian, saying, ""I am of the belief that every billionaire who can't live on $999m is kind of a sociopath... It's a strange way to live when you have objectively more money than a person can spend."

Tim Disney, Abigail Disney's brother, is also one of the letter's signatories. Although he has not been as outspoken on wealth-tax topics as his sister, he has made numerous financial contributions to progressive political organizations and campaigns dating back to at least 2017, per ProPublica records.

Jeffrey Gural is estimated to be worth between $320 million and $360 million, but a high net worth isn't the only thing he shares with President Trump. He's a well-known New York real estate developer who was born into the real estate business, and his father was a prominent developer before he even started his own career. And, like Trump, he owns notable properties in the city (including the famous Flatiron building) and is no stranger to the gambling industry, with both a casino and a racetrack in his portfolio. Nevertheless, Gural also happens to be a member of Patriotic Millionaires and has served on the advocacy group's advisory board.

Gural has made the argument for taxing on the wealthy since at least 2011, when he told Fox News' Laura Ingraham he was prepared to pay higher taxes to avoid burdening middle and low-income Americans alone. He has likewise made numerous donations to Democratic political candidates, as per OpenSecrets.