(Forbes)
Presidential contender Elizabeth Warren suggested a new tax on the rich Thursday that could cost American billionaires $85 billion a year, according to a Forbes analysis. The plan would not directly affect anyone worth less than $50 million, but it would subject those with fortunes of more than $50 million to a 2% incremental wealth tax. The rate would rise to 3% for any fortune that crossed the $1 billion threshold.
That means billions of dollars would be transferred from the richest Americans to the larger population. Jeff Bezos, whose $137 billion fortune makes him the wealthiest person in the world, would have to fork over $4.1 billion annually under such a plan. Bill Gates would pay an additional $2.9 billion in taxes, and Warren Buffett would owe $2.5 billion more. President Donald Trump, whose estimated $3.1 billion fortune made him the 259th-richest person in America as of September, would owe an additional $80 million.
“We are now in an America where one-tenth of 1% has about the same wealth as 90% of America,” Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, said in an appearance on MSNBC. “And here’s the deal. Forty percent of America today can’t come up with $400 bucks in an emergency. That is not an economy that is sustainable, and it’s not a democracy that’s sustainable.”
Some billionaires who would be paying the tax characterized it as a step toward communism. “The leftists are ‘communist light’ for now,” Rockstar Energy Drink founder Russ Weiner, who is worth an estimated $4.5 billion, wrote in an email to Forbes. “They will continue to get more dangerous with their demands and actions. It will never be enough.” Read more
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