Current Events > Trump supported a wealth tax more severe than anything Warren is proposing

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wealth-tax-from-1999-more-severe-elizabeth-warren-2019-10

In November 1999, Donald Trump proposed a wealth tax far more severe than the "Ultra Millionaire Tax" proposed by the Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, who the president has called "Uber Left."

Trump proposed a one-off 14.25% tax on parts of households' net worth exceeding $10 million. Trump claimed it would eliminate the national debt, then $5.66 trillion, CNN reported at the time.

For example, Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, worth $110 billion today, would pay a one-off tax of $15.7 billion.

The Associated Press resurfaced Trump's ambitious tax proposal in a report Tuesday.

"By my calculations, 1% of Americans, who control 90% of the wealth in this country, would be affected by my plan," Trump, at the time mulling a run for president with the Reform Party, said.

As a bonus from the one-off tax, Trump said, "the other 99% of the people would get deep reductions in their federal income taxes."

Several 2020 Democratic Party hopefuls have proposed new taxes on the rich, which focus on taxing total accrued wealth instead of focusing on annual income.

Warren's Ultra-Millionaire Tax would see households pay a 2% tax annually on net worth between $50 million and $1 billion and 3% a year on wealth of more than $1 billion.

Warren, who Trump called "Uber Left" in a recent tweet, says her plan will bring in $2.75 trillion in revenue from 75,000 households over 10 years.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has proposed a wealth tax that is even more aggressive than Warren's, Business Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig previously reported.

"It would affect more households, levy a higher marginal tax rate, and ultimately bring in more money for government coffers to help pay for some of his ambitious proposals, like 'Medicare for All,' as well as fund other social programs," Zeballos-Roig reported.

Trump said of his proposal in a statement in 1999: "Personally this plan would cost me hundreds of millions of dollars, but in all honesty, it's worth it."

"It is a win-win for the American people, an idea no conventional politician would have the guts to put forward."

Despite never coming to fruition, Trump's proposal was used for the basis of a tax plan that Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas put forward in April 2017 and mockingly named the Donald J. Trump Wealth Tax Act of 2017.

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Lol wow.

I wonder if current Trump is purposefully contradicting everything he's said and done in the past or if it's just coincidence
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I'm absolutely shocked
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why does something he supported in 1999 have any meaning now

people can change their minds
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Trump offhandedly suggesting something unconstitutional?
No way!

Article 1, section 9

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

16th amendment

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

tl;dr
The federal government can't tax someone directly, other than via income, and accumulated wealth has already been income-taxed.

If you want to "soak the rich", get rid of the Capital Gains rate, and just tax it as regular income.

Democrats and Republicans both would never do this coz their donors would complain
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not shocking, tbh
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