United Airlines CEO is calling for a wealth tax and near-100% inheritance taxes

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby called for a national wealth tax and for inheritance levies reaching close to 100%, saying wealth inequality “has become a danger to our society,” according to The Hill.

Kirby made the comments in an interview with the New York Times published Sunday. He was answering a prompt about why fewer people trust corporate chiefs, according to Fortune.

"We should have a national wealth tax – it won't work by state because people will just move," Kirby told the New York Times. "And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100% at some level. I would pay them."

Kirby offered no figure for where the wealth tax would begin and did not explain what size of bequest would trigger a rate close to 100%, according to Fortune. The United States does not impose an inheritance tax at the federal level, although a few states do. The federal estate tax is instead settled by the estate itself, not by the people who inherit from it. It has a 40% top rate and exempts the first $15 million of estates for those dying in 2026, according to Fortune.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry criticized the remarks on X $TWTR, according to The Guardian. He called them “audacious” and said Kirby “didn’t even build @united and makes $32 million a year.” Landry linked to the Treasury’s fund for public donations to pay down the national debt and urged Kirby to hand his salary over to United’s lowest-paid workers.

Former Fox News host Glenn Beck and other X users urged people to shun United, according to The Guardian.

Kirby's total 2025 compensation was $32.28 million, according to Fortune. United's median employee received total compensation of $96,670, according to the same Fortune report on the company's proxy statement.

The richest 1% of U.S. households held 32.5% of the nation’s total net worth in the second quarter of 2026, up from 31.1% a year earlier, according to Federal Reserve data cited by Fortune. The bottom half of households held just 2.3%, down from 2.4% a year earlier.

The remarks come as California voters weigh Proposition 40, which would levy a single 5% charge on the fortunes of billionaires, according to The Hill. Revenue would go toward public schools and state-run programs for health care and food aid. In a poll conducted in September by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, 45% of respondents backed the measure, below the majority needed for passage, and 42% opposed it. Another 13% were undecided, according to The Hill.