Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) proposed a plan on Thursday to impose new taxes on those who have a net worth over $50 million, adding to other recent wealth tax proposals from Democrats.
The bill has 45 co-sponsors and would impose a 2% annual tax on the net worth of households and trusts valued at over $50 million. Additionally, it would impose a 1% annual surtax on the net worth of households and trusts over $1 billion.
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The legislation, which in the GOP-controlled Congress has no chance of passing, is still notable in that it sets a baseline for liberal efforts to tax the rich ahead of the midterm elections and could become a test for Democratic hopefuls seeking the 2028 nomination.
“While multi-millionaires and billionaires are getting richer and richer, families are getting squeezed by a rigged economy,” Warren said. “My bill is about basic fairness and making the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. It’s time for the government to stop listening to the richest of the rich and start working for working people.”
The legislation, dubbed the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, is being led in the House by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA). According to the lawmakers, the new tax would affect some 260,000 households in America, or the top 0.15% wealthiest households.
To prevent high-net-worth taxpayers from leaving the country to avoid paying taxes, the legislation would establish a 40% “exit tax” on anyone who renounces citizenship to dodge the new levies.
Additionally, the bill includes $100 billion in new funding for the IRS.
The lawmakers contend that the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act would generate $6.2 trillion in revenue over the next decade, which they argue could be used for policies such as lowering the Medicare eligibility age, providing universal child care, and constructing more housing.
“The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act is a major step toward making sure the wealthy finally pay their fair share,” Jayapal said. “With this legislation, we can narrow the racial wealth gap and invest trillions of dollars in health care, schools, clean energy, housing, and more to improve lives in communities across America.”
The proposal comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced legislation that would impose a 5% annual wealth tax on just under 1,000 of the wealthiest people in the country.
The bill provides for wealth distribution and would provide $3,000 direct payments to every individual in a household making $150,000 or less per year and $12,000 to a family of four. The legislation would net $4.4 trillion over the next decade, according to economists at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Sanders-Khanna bill would also expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing for seniors, dedicate funding toward the goal of building and preserving over 7 million affordable homes, establish a $60,000 minimum annual salary for public school teachers, and make it so that families don’t pay more than 7% of their income on child care, according to the authors.
Because the bill would levy a 5% tax on the net worth of billionaires, if those billionaires didn’t have enough liquid assets to pay the Treasury, they would presumably have to sell off assets to foot the tax bill.
Taxes on wealth, as opposed to income, have historically proved difficult to implement. In the United States, Democrats have proposed taxing wealth, directly or indirectly, but have so far not been able to implement any.
For instance, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a proposal that would tax the unrealized capital gains of billionaires and very high earners.
The latest effort comes as some in California work to impose a similar 5% tax on billionaires through a ballot measure. That would affect some 200 billionaires in the state.
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While some Democratic lawmakers are pushing for wealth taxes, others are pushing for middle-class tax cuts as well.
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) recently released tax plans that equate to middle-class tax cuts and are advertised as moving families off the tax rolls.
