Wealth taxes on billionaires and $30 minimum wages are part of the same plan, advocate says. ‘They should pay their fair share’

There are an estimated 938 billionaires in the United States. To put that into context, that’s about two full Boeing 747s (each one holds 416 passengers). Or, that’s about half of the 1,763 seats in the Broadway Theatre, where you can now catch The Great Gatsby. It’s also the average size of the U.S. college graduating class, and just 1.1% of the 82,500 seats at MetLife Stadium.

Regardless of how you view that 938 number, there’s one overall resounding agreement people have: Most voters want billionaires to pay their fair share. With two separate billionaire tax proposals now gaining traction (one nationwide and one in California specifically), a new poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies quantifies just how much the average American thinks the rich should pay up.

The survey, released this month in partnership with the Los Angeles Times, found that 52% of California’s registered voters support a proposed one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state’s roughly 200 billionaires, while 33% oppose it. 

Responses fell along ideological lines. Seventy-two percent of Democrats back the tax, an...