Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Tuesday ripped fellow 2020 presidential prospect Howard Schultz for attacking her wealth tax proposal.
“What’s ‘ridiculous’ is billionaires who think they can buy the presidency to keep the system rigged for themselves while opportunity slips away for everyone else,” the liberal firebrand tweeted of the former Starbucks CEO and executive chairman, who’s estimated to be worth close to $3.5 billion. “The top 0.1%, who’d pay my #UltraMillionaireTax, own about the same wealth as 90% of America. It’s time for change.”
What’s “ridiculous” is billionaires who think they can buy the presidency to keep the system rigged for themselves while opportunity slips away for everyone else. The top 0.1%, who’d pay my #UltraMillionaireTax, own about the same wealth as 90% of America. It’s time for change. https://t.co/D04G5fNvpa
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 29, 2019
Warren announced she had formed a presidential exploratory committee at the end of 2018. Last week she rolled out her plan to tax households with a net worth of more than $50 million starting at a 2 percent rate, rising to 3 percent for billionaire households. She has also called on potential billionaire 2020 Democratic candidates, like former New York City Mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg, not to self-fund their campaigns.
Schultz, in a Tuesday interview with NPR, described Warren’s tax reforms as “ridiculous,” stating it was nothing more than a “good headline” that had little chance of becoming law.
Schultz sent shock waves through the Democratic Party on Sunday when he confirmed he was “seriously considering” launching a “centrist, independent” bid for the White House. Several high-profile party figures have vociferously criticized the self-described lifelong Democrat for even contemplating a third-party run because it could siphon votes away from the party’s official nominee.
Schultz, who grew up in Brooklyn’s public housing projects, was also questioned about his wealth at the first stop on his national book tour at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble on Monday night. He was asked whether an adviser for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was correct in arguing that the existence of billionaires in the U.S. represents a “failure of the system.”
“It’s so un-American to think that way,” Schultz said.
