"The combined net worth of the nation's wealthiest climbed to $1 trillion, up $45 billion in 12 months. With a $750 million admission price, 9-digit fortunes are an endangered species here: 78% of the people on this year's list are billionaires."

Bundled within the overlapping themes of tax reform and economic "ownership," they say, are initiatives that, if enacted, would move the country toward fundamentally different systems of taxation and social insurance.

Wage income would be taxed at something close to a flat rate instead of today's graduated rates. Investment income would be largely tax-free. And individuals would shoulder more of the risk for their financial security, in return for potentially greater rewards.

"If you tell liberals that we're going to have a flat tax, that's like putting a cross in front of a vampire: They start cringing," said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative fund-raising organization. "By doing these things in little bitty steps at a time, it's sort of like a slippery slope but in the right direction."