2% tax on 3 Met Gala necklaces could fund 1 million New Yorkers’ energy bills

MET GALA ACCUSED OF ARTWASHING HARMS OF EXTREME WEALTH BY NGOS

The Met Gala event risks artwashing the harms of extreme wealth by having Jeff Bezos as lead chair this year, a public letter published today by a group of NGOs warns.

A 2% wealth tax on just 3 necklaces previously worn by celebrities to the Met Gala’s red carpet could fully fund New York City’s home energy assistance programme, helping 1 million households heat and cool their homes.¹ The stark finding is from new analysis from the Tax Justice Network also published today.

“There’s a thin line between celebrating glamorous fashion and artwashing extreme wealth, and that line gets bulldozed when your poster boy is an ICE-profiteering billionaire bankrolling Trump’s vanity projects and a top spender on anti-worker lobbying,”² said Alex Cobham, chief executive at the Tax Justice Network.

Trump has repeatedly attempted to cut the home energy assistance programme and last year fired the programme’s federal staff in the billionaire-led purge of government agencies under DOGE³ – all the while receiving donations from billionaires like Bezos to help finance projects such as a White House ballroom and a proposed 250-foot-tall arch.⁴

Public awareness of the well-evidenced harms that extreme wealth has on economies, people’s wellbeing and democratic processes continues to grow.⁵ Wide public support for governments to act on extreme wealth has become a decisive voter issue, helping NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani⁶ as well as Danish PM Mette Frederiksen come out on top in recent elections⁷. Hungarian PM-elect Péter Magyar, whose historic election victory ends 16 years of right-wing nationalist rule, also pledged to introduce a wealth tax in his party’s election programme.⁸

Greenpeace International, Patriotic Millionaires and the global public services union PSI are among the signatories of a public letter published today by the Tax the Super-Rich Alliance, calling on the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vogue to not honour Bezos at the Met Gala.⁹ Meanwhile, calls for a boycott of the Met Gala championed by the Everybody Hates Elon campaign group have made headlines around the world.¹⁰

Alex Cobham said:

“In just 2 hours out at the Met Gala, Bezos will gain as much wealth as 110 NYC teachers will earn in a year, but only pay in tax on that new wealth what 5 of those teachers would pay.¹¹ Billionaires’ extreme wealth is collected wealth, like dividends and rent, not earned wealth, like salaries. Collected wealth grows a lot faster than earned wealth but gets taxed a lot less.¹²

“Bezos’s wealth will grow by the equivalent of 130,000 hours of a teacher’s labour in just the first two hours Bezos will spend out and about at the Met Gala. This extreme distortion throws economies out of whack. Our economies are supposed to let people earn the wealth they need to lead secure and comfortable lives, but most countries’ tax rules make it easier for the superrich to collect wealth than for the rest of us to earn it. This has let the superrich collect extreme wealth to the point of making our economies insecure and destabilising our democracies. In Bezos’ case, it’s easy to see how that undertaxed collected wealth goes towards lobbying further against workers’ rights and pay, while his company Amazon remains one of the biggest recipients of US subsidies.¹³

“The Met has long showcased art and fashion from across centuries that spoke truth to power, but this year’s Met Gala risks doing the opposite by artwashing the extreme wealth harming people, economies and planet today.

“The best way to protect against the harms of extreme wealth is to end the special tax treatment that collected wealth gets over earned wealth. Wealth taxes are one of the most powerful ways to do just that.”

The Tax Justice Network estimates that a 2% wealth tax on just 3 necklaces previously worn by celebrities to the Met Gala’s red carpet – the Cartier Patalia Diamond Choker (worn by Emma Chamberlain in 2022), The Bulgari Laguna Blu diamond (worn by Priyanka Chopra in 2023) and the Tiffany Lucida Star diamond (worn by Dua Lipa in 2023) could fully fund New York City’s home energy assistance programme (HEAP).¹⁴

An estimated 1 million households used the programme in 2024 to heat and cool their homes, marking a record number of recipients for the city.¹⁵ More than 500 New Yorkers die every year from hot weather in New York City.¹⁶

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who confirmed he will skip the Met Gala in a break with mayoral tradition, recently announced a new “pied-à-terre tax,” marking the first time New York City will impose an annual tax on ultra-luxury properties owned by people who don’t actually live in them full-time.¹⁷

Alex Cobham said:

“From Denmark to Brazil, from the UN tax convention negotiations to the Met Gala red carpet, everybody is coming to see extreme wealth for the harm it is. And the great news is that people are starting to do something about it.”

-ENDS-

A short analysis of the wealth on show at the 2026 Met Gala

From 2023 to 2025, Jeff Bezos’ wealth grew by more than $100 billion. This is equivalent to accumulating $3.8 million every hour. As of September 2025, the starting annual salary of a NYC Public Schools (NYCPS) teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $68,902.

If Bezos were to continue to accumulate wealth at this rate, he would accumulate $7.6 million in the first two hours of the Met Gala event, which is the equivalent of 110 NYC Public Schools teachers’ starting salaries.

A single NYC Public Schools teacher typically pays an effective income tax rate of 25% in income tax. In contrast, Jeff Bezos is believed to be paying an effective tax rate of 1.1% on his wealth growth, according to analysis of IRS tax-payment information.

This means that in just 2 hours out at the Met Gala, Bezos will gain as much as wealth as 110 NYC teachers will earn in a year, but only pay in tax on that new wealth what 5 of those teachers would pay.

Three necklaces previously worn by celebrities to the Met Gala’s red carpet are estimated to together be worth $65 million. The Cartier Patalia Diamond Choker, worn by Emma Chamberlain in 2022, is estimated to be worth $30 million; the Bulgari Laguna Blu diamond, worn by Priyanka Chopra in 2023, worth $25 million; and the Tiffany Lucida Star diamond, worn by Dua Lipa in 2023, worth $10 million. A 2% tax on these luxury assets would generate $1.3 million in tax revenue, which is how much New York City spent on it’s home energy assistance programme (HEAP) in 2025. The programme was used by record number of 1 million households in 2024. More than 500 New Yorkers die every year from hot weather in New York City.¹⁶

Note to editor

1. See our analysis above on the wealth on show at the 2026 Met Gala.
2. Jeff Bezo’s Amazon has made millions selling its clouds services to ICE, prompting calls from US grassroot campaigners to boycott the company. Amazon was the US’s 12th biggest spender in 2025 on lobbying government policy. The company has spent record breaking sums on anti-union lobbying in 2025.
3. Trump has made six attempts to date to cut the Low Income Heat Energy Assistance Programme, and has often singled out New York City use of the plan. In 2025, Trump fired the programme’s staff as part of the wider layoffs led by billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency”.
4. Amazon is among the donors reportedly funding Trump’s $300 million White House Ballroom. Trump has claimed the proposed arch would be entirely funded by leftover funds from the ballroom, although this is disputed, with plans indicating the bill will be footed by taxpayers.
5. Research shows a large rise in wealth among the 1% in the US over the past 40 years did not lead to more investments, and instead resulted in dissaving among non-rich households. Research also shows that “a large rise in inequality generates a saving glut of the rich, which can push an economy into a debt trap characterized by low interest rates, high debt levels, and output below potential”. Indebtedness of non-wealthy households brought on by extreme wealth of the richest households brings about lower productivity. Conversely, another study found that wealth taxes resulted in more investments. Research shows large rise in savings among the 1% in the US over the past 40 years brought on dissaving among non-rich households. A G20 reportauthored by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz concluded that the rise of extreme wealth is a “threat to democracy”.
6. Read more about Mamdani’s campaigning on taxing wealth here.
7. Read more about the Danish PM staving off electoral defeat with a last-minute wealth tax pledge here.
8. Read more about Hungary’s Tisza wealth tax pledge here.
9. Read the public letter, signed by over 30 organisations, including the Tax Justice Network, here.
10. Read more about Everybody Hates Elon’s poster campaign calling for a boycott of the Met Gala here.
11. See our analysis above on the wealth on show at the 2026 Met Gala.
12. Jeff Bezos is believed to be paying an effective tax rate of 1.1% on his wealth growth, according to an analysis of IRS tax-payment information by Americans for Tax Fairness. Read more about why governments must end the special tax treatment collected wealth gets over earned wealth here.
13. See note 2.
14. See our short analysis above on the wealth on show at the 2026 Met Gala.
15. Read more about NYC’s home energy assistance programme here.
16. Read the 2025 NYC Heat-Related Mortality Report here.