Credit: Disney/abigaildisney.com, edited by ITMAbigail Disney, the granddaughter of Roy O. Disney and grandniece of Walt Disney, has made a striking public statement: she wants to be taxed more, along with the rest of the “ultra-rich.” Disney is one of 250 signatories to a new, extensive report titled “Proud to Pay More,” which included a personal essay from the heiress about her shame regarding private plane travel and the dangers of extreme wealth.
In her essay, Abigail Disney openly states that she has lived a life sheltered from any significant kind of hardship, saying, “[b]ecause of my grandfather’s extraordinary success, I have lived a life of enormous privilege. I don’t think there is a single luxury, comfort, or convenience that I have not experienced over the course of my life on account of my family’s wealth and fame.”
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This lifetime of privilege has caused Abigail Disney to assert that an increased wealth tax on the ultra-rich is not only beneficial to society as a whole but actually necessary for the health of the entire world.
Disney particularly focuses on the incredible costs and carbon expenditures of the kind of private travel regularly used by millionaires and billionaires, describing a trip on her family’s private jet: “Nearly two decades ago, I used the jet to fly alone from California to New York. As I strapped myself into the aircraft’s queen-sized bed for some shut-eye, I had an uncomfortable epiphany: this was wrong.”
This is not the first time that Abigail Disney has spoken publically about wealth inequality and the need for higher taxes. The heiress and filmmaker has been highly critical of the modern-day Walt Disney Company, particularly of the enormous salaries paid to executives like CEO Bob Iger. She also has also harshly criticized the low wages paid to Disney Cast Members, saying:
“Three out of four of the people who smile when you walk in, who help you comfort that crying baby, who maybe help you have the best vacation you ever have, can’t consistently put food on the table. Disney has turned a pretty profit on the idea that families are a kind of magic, that love is important, that imaginations matter. That’s why it turns your stomach a little bit when I tell you that Cinderella might be sleeping in her car.”
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The full text of “Proud to Pay More,” including Disney’s essay, can be read below:
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