Why Taxing the Ultra-Rich Is Having a Moment
Proposals for a new “wealth tax” are widening the divide between Democrats and Wall Street
Twenty years ago, Democrats were so cozy with Wall Street that a former Goldman Sachs banker ran the Treasury Department, and President Bill Clinton signed laws gutting regulations meant to rein in the financial industry. Fast-forward to the present, and the Democratic Party is in the midst of a rebranding. Party elites are no longer openly courting the ultra-rich — they want to tax them.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren set the groundwork for a debate in the 2020 presidential primary with her ambitious plan to annually tax estates worth more than $50 million. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke endorsed the idea a few months later. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker came out with an alternative approach to tackling inequality, with plans to expand the existing estate tax (which, under President Donald Trump, has become a shell of its former self). The party’s leftward shift got a further boost from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who earlier this year proposed a controversial 70% marginal income tax rate.
These proposals represent a significant transformation from even the last presidential primary. And the idea of a wealth tax is popular right now; a recent survey showed 60% of U.S…
