Bernie Sanders on Tuesday proposed a wealth tax on the top 0.1% of U.S. households in order to reduce income inequality and fund his many proposals for new or expanded social programs.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s plan is in the same vein as that of his rival, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has also made a wealth tax a central part of her campaign. It would raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over 10 years to pay for programs such as Medicare for all and universal child care. In contrast, Warren’s campaign said her plan would raise approximately $2.75 trillion over a decade.
Under Sander’s tax the typical billionaire’s wealth would be cut in half after 15 years, according to two economists who worked on the plan with Sanders campaign.
“There should be no billionaires,” Sanders tweeted.
The Vermont senator’s annual tax would only apply to households with a net worth above $32 million, which is about 180,000 households that make up the top 0.1%, according to economists who worked on the plan.
The tax proposal is the latest sign of the Democratic Party’s shift toward a more aggressive stance in favor of redistributing wealth from the richest Americans to those at lower rungs of the economic ladder.
Both Sander’s and Warren’s wealth taxes would need to pass Congress in order to take effect, a prospect that is unlikely unless the Democrats win large majorities in the House and Senate.
New wealth taxes could also be susceptible to constitutional challenges. Both campaigns pointed to arguments from legal scholars justifying the legality of their plans.
