Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., unveiled on March 1 the Ultra- Millionaire Tax Act, which wouldimpose a 2% annual tax on the net worthof households and trusts between $50million and $1 billion.
The bill, introduced with Reps.Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., andBrendan Boyle, D-Pa., “would levelthe playing field and narrow the racial
100,000 households in America, or the
top 0.05%, to pay their fair share,” the
lawmakers said in a statement.
The lawmakers cite a 2021 analysis byeconomists Emmanuel Saez and GabrielZucman from the University of California,Berkeley, which found that the legislationwould bring in at least $3 trillion in revenue over 10 years — without raising taxeson the 99.95% of American householdsthat have net worth below $50 million.
The bill would also impose a 1%annual surtax (3% tax overall) on the networth of households and trusts above$1 billion.
Bloomberg reported that the 100richest Americans would hand overmore than $78 billion of their personalfortunes under the plan.
Co-sponsors of the bill are: Sens.Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; SheldonWhitehouse, D-R.I.; Jeff Merkley,D-Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N. Y.; BrianSchatz, D-Hawaii; Edward Markey,D-Mass.; and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
“The ultra-rich and powerful haverigged the rules in their favor so muchthat the top 0.1% pay a lower effective tax rate than the bottom 99%, andbillionaire wealth is 40% higher thanbefore the COVID crisis began. A wealthtax is popular among voters on bothsides for good reason: because theyunderstand the system is rigged to benefit the wealthy and large corporations,”Warren said in the statement.
“As Congress develops additionalplans to help our economy, the wealthtax should be at the top of the list to helppay for these plans because of the hugeamounts of revenue it would generate,”Warren said.
‘NEVER HAPPEN’
Ed Slott of Ed Slott & Co., told Investment
Advisor in an email that Warren’s wealth
tax “will never happen.”
The idea of a wealth tax “may sound
fair to those who are not anywhere
near that wealthy and believe these
Beginnings
WASHINGTON WATCHBy Melanie Waddell
Will Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax See the
Light of Day?
Economists see the tax bringing in $3 trillion in revenue over a 10-year period.
StefaniReynolds/Bloomberg
