Before too long, worrying about billionaires might seem quaint. Elon Musk, whom our editor-in-chief interviewed on last week’s Insider, spent about a fortnight as the world’s first trillionaire earlier this year, before the slump in SpaceX stock pulled him back into the mere hundreds of billions. But don’t feel too sorry for him. Mr Musk also says AI will make money redundant within a decade.

Today, though, money still has its uses—and billionaires have rather a lot of it. Surging equity valuations have swelled billionaires’ fortunes and minted plenty more. That has powered a rather potent backlash. References to billionaires in Democratic party fundraising emails have quadrupled since 2024, finds Andrew Hall, a political scientist at Stanford. Few of those mentions are complimentary.

So, should we fear and loathe the ultra-rich? Would democracies be wise to clobber their fortunes with wealth taxes? Since this is Inside Economics, tomorrow’s discussion will take an inevitable detour into tax policy. The Economist has long supported some taxes on wealth (such as property or inheritance taxes), but we’re not all that keen on the standing levies on total wealth that are now gaining currency. We worry they will stymie innovation and raise less revenue than supporters hope.

Mostly, though, tomorrow’s show will focus on a broader issue. If billionaires are a social problem—a “policy failure”, as leftier Democrats in America like to say—then the economic arguments around wealth taxes are beside the point: the aim would be to eliminate, or at least hem in, billionaires as a class. You won’t be surprised to hear that The Economist doesn’t share that view. Our latest analysis found that a higher share of billionaires than ever seem to have earned their mammon fairly, not from inheritance or political connections.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about. Too-big concentrations of political and economic power should trouble anyone committed to liberal ideals. There are plenty of democracies, like India or in eastern Europe, where the ultra-wealthy do seem to have distorted politics in a damaging way. So we’ll try to take a dispassionate look at whether or not there is a case for wider concern. We’re keen to get a sense of our readers’ views, too. Tell us whether you think billionaires are a threat to democracy by voting in our poll.

Joining me in the studio tomorrow to break down the billionaire backlash will be Henry Curr, our acting business affairs editor, and Josh Roberts, our capital markets correspondent. Worryingly, Josh tells me that he’s procured props for the show. Do tune in. Please submit your questions via the Q&A feature on the episode page and send your feedback on our conversation—and Josh’s curios—to insider@economist.com. The show will be available to watch from Tuesday from 6pm London time (1pm in New York) tomorrow.