Meet The Waltons

How one family built a system to extract wealth, avoid tax, and shape policy without democratic oversight

The Architecture (1953–1992)

In 1953, Sam Walton did something that would save his family an estimated nine billion dollars in tax.

He was running a small chain of stores across Arkansas. He had not yet opened the first Walmart. That would come nine years later, in 1962. But his father-in-law, Leland Robson, told him to structure his business as a family partnership before it got big.

So Walton created Walton Enterprises LLC (Walton Enterprises).

The structure was simple. Sam and his wife Helen held 20 per cent together. Their four children – Rob, John, Jim, and Alice – each held 20 per cent individually (Walton Enterprises).