On December 10th, Michael Dell and his wife announced a $6.25 billion gift to the nation’s children. The money, divided into $250 contributions, will be deposited into “Trump Accounts” for 25 million young children.
The White House trumpeted the event, but it was quickly lost in the daily news flood.
But it was important. Think of it as “proof of concept” for a bigger idea. That idea is the Century Fund. It will end the employment tax.
Here’s how: Increase the Estate Tax. Encourage wealthy estates to make contributions to a national wealth fund. The fund would become large enough to eliminate the need for workers to pay the employment tax, the largest tax most Americans ever pay.
The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. The retirement of a newborn could be funded with a relatively modest one-time investment — as little as $2,000 to not more than $8,000. To fund every birth in 2022, that would require $7.2 billion to $29 billion. Compare that to the gift of $6.25 billion from Michael Dell. Or to the $24 billion raised by the federal estate tax in the same year.
More important, the estate tax is tiny compared to the amount we collectively give to charity each year. How tiny? Consider the $592.5 billion of charitable giving in 2024 according to Giving USA.
We have the resources to solve our nation’s problems. Here are links to two posts providing more detail:
https://couchpotatoman.substack.com/p/go-supreme-grand-poohbah (Sept 7, 2025)
https://couchpotatoman.substack.com/p/the-supreme-grand-poohbah-saves-social (May 4, 2025)