Sanders proposes sweeping wealth tax, an idea highlighted by Warren

Washington Post ^ | September 24, 2019 | Sean Sullivan and Jeff Stein

[C19fan]

Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed a tax on the wealthiest Americans on Tuesday as way to help underwrite his slate of ambitious — and costly — policies, offering his own version of an idea one of his toughest rivals has campaigned on aggressively and pushing it further.

Sanders, a presidential candidate and independent senator from Vermont, offered his blueprint after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has surged in the polls, made a wealth tax one of her signature ideas. Her crowds regularly chant “two cents!” at her rallies when she brings up the idea, a reference to how much the wealthy would have to pay on the dollar.

Sanders’s proposed wealth tax is more aggressive than Warren’s and would raise more money. Warren’s plan calls for levying a 2 percent tax on wealth above $50 million, as well as a 3 percent tax on wealth above $1 billion. The relatively high threshold has helped Warren fend off critiques that large farms could be exposed to the tax.

[C19fan]

Many Europeans used to have wealth taxes. Steffi Graf and her dad got caught up on charges of trying to evade Germany's wealth tax. I used the past tense as these countries realized they did not collect anywhere near the revenue anticipated due to the target population moving to tax havens like Monaco for a lot of bureaucratic hassle and costs.

There is strong case that these wealth taxes are unconstitutional.

[DannyTN]

It worked so well in France.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Is your IRA/401K safe from these robbers? Perhaps Uncle Sam should stop giving those tax breaks once these accounts reach a certain threshold, perhaps half a million.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

If a flat-out wealth tax doesn't violate Article I, Section 9, then nothing does.

I think Roberts likely would come through on this one. You want a wealth tax, pass a constitutional amendment like they did for income taxes.

[rdl6989]

Commies.

[lgjhn23]

Socialism/Communism is great....until they run out other peoples’ money.

[Zathras]

The biggest problem is it doesn’t fix anything.
If you confiscated every dime from everyone who owns more than 1B, you are still have a deficit and NEXT year you are in real trouble.

18,000 people pay 90% of the taxes to run NY State.

[econjack]

Yes...the UK, too. For idiots like Warren who think wealth and the people who have it is not portable are in for a rude shock. Given that wealth forms the pool for productive investment and job growth, she wants to tax an axe to the Golden Goose, but isn’t bright enough to realize it. She, and her supporters, have the economic IQ of dust.

[Diogenesis]

Sanders’ wife (at least) and Warren
should have been prosecuted for their
thefts using fraud.

BUT THAT is acceptable because they are special.

By failing to prosecute, they freely confabulate
and now scheme based on their (and others’) lies.

[Buckeye McFrog]

There is strong case that these wealth taxes are unconstitutional.

Constitutional is whatever John Roberts decides it is after rolling out of bed in the morning and reading his reviews in the WaPo.

[DannyTN]

Dust would be better.

[1Old Pro]

Democrats are the party of higher and higher taxes. It’s basically their main plank of the platform.

[C210N]

Once “taxed” (aka, stolen), what happens the following tax year?

Does the same wealth get “taxed” again? Or, is it deemed to have been “taxed”, and only new wealth subject?

Semantically, either way, it is essentially just a re-tax on previous earnings. In one case, a one-time extra tax on earnings... in the other, a yearly tax on the same earnings.

[taxcontrol]

No where in the Constitution is there permission for the government to tax wealth. Income, yes - wealth no.

[taxcontrol]

That is not how they will confiscate the wealth. They will simply require 401Ks to hold a certain % of US Treasury bonds in order to be tax free.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

The federal income tax started out as a 2 or 3 per cent tax on millionaires.

Look at the hellish nightmare THAT turned into.

How long would it take for the RATS to call for a 2% tax surcharge on those with a net worth of $200,000 or more?

[cgbg]

The only successful way to collect the task would be to throw the “wealthy” in concentration camps (where they cannot call their tax attorneys) and then take their money.

I wonder if that has ever been tried before?

[griswold3]

Nah! It’s not like we ever had an Environmentalist that believed in Euthanasia.
There comes a time in such systems that People themselves become assets or liabilities.

[Vaduz]

Sanders proposes sweeping wealth tax, an idea highlighted by Warren.
More bait for the idiots who are clueless and only react to emotion.

[magooey]

The relatively high threshold has helped Warren fend off critiques that large farms could be exposed to the tax.

With what the Federal Reserve has done to the value of the dollar over the last 100 years, eventually even miniature farms will be subject to the tax. How many generations should a family farm expect to be inherited?