Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has a press release announcing that she will join the Senate Finance Committee. From the release: "She also announced plans to introduce legislation implementing a wealth tax on fortunes over $50 million. The Finance Committee's jurisdiction covers taxation and revenue policy, including oversight of the Internal Revenue Service. The senator's legislation reflects her 2020 campaign proposal to impose a two cent tax on every dollar of individual wealth over $50 million, with an additional surtax on every dollar of wealth over $1 billion."
It's deceptive of Warren to call this a "two cent tax." Two cents sounds like nothing. But two percent of $50 million is $1,000,000, which, imposed annually, could over time eat away at a fortune accumulated over decades of hard work. Biden did not back such a plan, and there are both political (getting moderates or even the Democratic donor class to back it) and practical (valuation) challenges. But Biden does have a plan to double the capital gains tax. A cynic might say that Biden's borrowing binge is designed to inflate fortunes to the size that they will qualify for Senator Warren to tax them away.
 Senator Elizabeth Warren at her campaign kickoff in 2019, in Lawrence, Mass. Photo: FutureOfCapitalism.com |
