• Warren again floats wealth tax legislation,
WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced legislation Monday that would tax the net worth of the wealthiest people in America, a proposal aimed at persuading President Joe Biden and other Democrats to fund sweeping new federal spending programs by taxing the richest Americans.
Ms. Warren’s wealth tax would apply a 2% tax to individual net worth — including the value of stocks, houses, boats and anything else a person owns, after subtracting any debts — above $50 million. It would add an additional 1% surcharge for net worth above $1 billion. It is co-sponsored in the House by two Democratic representatives, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, a moderate.
The proposal, which mirrors the plan Ms. Warren unveiled while seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, is not among the top revenue-raisers Democratic leaders are considering to help offset Mr. Biden’s campaign proposals to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure, education, child care, clean energy deployment, health care and other domestic initiatives. Unlike Ms. Warren, Mr. Biden did not endorse a wealth tax in the 2020 presidential primaries.
But Ms. Warren is pushing her colleagues to pursue such a plan, which has gained popularity with the public as the richest Americans reap huge gains while 10 million Americans remain out of work as a result of the pandemic.
Polls have consistently shown Ms. Warren’s proposal winning the support of more than 3 in 5 Americans — including a majority of Republican voters.
“A wealth tax is popular among voters on both sides for good reason: because they understand the system is rigged to benefit the wealthy and large corporations,” Ms. Warren said. “As Congress develops additional plans to help our economy, the wealth tax should be at the top of the list to help pay for these plans because of the huge amounts of revenue it would generate.”
She said she is confident that “lawmakers will catch up to the overwhelming majority of Americans who are demanding more fairness, more change, and who believe it’s time for a wealth tax.”
Mr. Biden did not propose tax increases to offset the $1.9 trillion economic aid package he hopes to sign this month. He has said he will pay for longterm spending — as opposed to a temporary economic jolt — with tax increases on high earners.