The three richest people in the US own as much wealth as the bottom half of the nation’s population

The three richest people in the US – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett – own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people.

Analysis of the wealth of America’s richest people found that Gates, Bezos and Buffett were sitting on a combined US$248.5 billion fortune. The Institute for Policy Studies said the growing gap between rich and poor had created a “moral crisis”.

In a report, the Billionaire Bonanza, the think tank said Donald Trump’s tax change proposals would “exacerbate existing wealth disparities” as 80 per cent of tax benefits would end up going to the wealthiest 1 per cent of households.

“Wealth inequality is on the rise,” said Chuck Collins, an economist and co-author of the report. “Now is the time for actions that reduce inequality, not tax cuts for the very wealthy.”

The study found that the billionaires included in Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in the US were worth a combined US$2.68 trillion – more than the gross domestic product of the UK.

“Our wealthiest 400 now have more wealth combined than the bottom 64 per cent of the US population, an estimated 80m households or 204 million people,” the report says. “That’s more people than the population of Canada and Mexico combined.”