Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Holds a press conference to announce laws to tax the wealth of America’s wealthiest people at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 1, 2021.
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Loads of Democrats on Capitol Hill – including progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. – Proposed on Monday an overall 3% tax on assets over $ 1 billion.
They also called for a lower annual wealth tax of 2% on the net worth of households and trusts between $ 50 million and $ 1 billion.
The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act aims to fill a growing US wealth gap exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.
“The ultra-rich and powerful have rigged the rules so much in their favor that the top 0.1% pay a lower effective tax rate than the bottom 99%, and billionaires’ wealth is 40% higher than it was before the Covid began -Crisis, “Warren said in a statement Monday.
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According to Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, economists at the University of California at Berkeley, about 100,000 Americans – or fewer than one in 1,000 families – would be subject to wealth tax in 2023.
They found that politics would make at least $ 3 trillion in a decade.
Warren called for the tax revenue to be invested in childcare and early education, K-12 education, and infrastructure.
In addition to Warren and Sanders, other co-sponsors of the legislation include: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I .; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore .; Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y .; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Edward Markey, D-Mass .; and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash .; and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., are also co-sponsors.
The bill is likely to face significant obstacles in the Senate, where the Democrats have the lowest majority.
Some groups also predict that a wealth tax would have a negative impact.
An analysis by the Tax Foundation 2020 of separate property tax proposals by Warren and Sanders during their presidential election found that they would reduce US economic output by 0.37% and 0.43%, respectively, over the long term.
According to the tax foundation, a wealth tax would also face administrative and compliance challenges, such as B. Difficulties in valuing assets and likely tax evasion programs.
The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act would attempt to address some of these issues.
The legislation would invest $ 100 billion in IRS systems and staff, ensure a 30% audit rate for the super-rich, and impose a 40% exit tax on wealthy Americans trying to give up their citizenship to avoid a wealth tax.
FIX: Updated this article to indicate that the tax was proposed on Monday.
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