Katherine Firkin: US billionaires fume over President Joe Biden's tax plan
Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Newstalk ZB
March 28, 20222m 49s
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Show Notes
Elon Musk isn't happy.
With a personal fortune that is flirting with US$300 billion, the Tesla CEO — the richest person on earth — has been attacking a Democratic proposal to tax the assets of billionaires like him.
The idea behind the Democratic plan is to use revenue from a billionaires tax to help pay for a domestic policy package being negotiated in the US Congress that would, among other things, help combat climate change, provide universal prekindergarten and expand health care programmes.
Musk, who recently blew past Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world Number 1 in wealth thanks to Tesla's soaring share price, would be liable for perhaps a US$50 billion tax hit under the Democratic proposal.
Forget it, he says.
"My plan," the SpaceX founder tweeted Thursday about his fortune, "is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness."
Musk may well get his wish. Prospects for the billionaires tax appear to be dimming fast in Congress. The pivotal Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is signalling his opposition to the plan along with some others, including some of his fellow Democrats, who have described such a tax as logistically impractical.
Earlier this week, Musk argued, the fundamental problem is that government spends too much money — and he warned that the billionaire tax proposal could lead over time to tax hikes for more Americans.
"Eventually," he tweeted Monday, "they run out of other people's money, and then they come for you."
The Democratic proposal, unveiled Wednesday (US time) by Senator Ron Wyden, would tax the gains of people with either US$1 billion or more in assets or three consecutive years of income of US$100 million or more. It would apply to fewer than an estimated 800 people, who would have to pay tax on the value of tradable items, like stocks, even if they don't sell them. Under current law, such assets are subject to tax only when they're sold.
Supporters have said the tax could raise US$200 billion over 10 years that could help fund Biden's legislative priorities. Republicans are unified in opposition to the proposal. And some have suggested it would be challenged in court.
The Democrats' proposal comes against the backdrop of growing concerns about vast economic inequality, with the wealth of many American multi-billionaires having accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to increased stock and home equity, even more than before the virus struck.
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocery chain and real estate magnate who owns Gristedes, condemned the proposal as something you would "expect Putin to do," referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The billionaire tax plan, Catsimatidis told The Associated Press, is "a little bit insane."
"The American people have reached the point where they're saying, 'Enough is enough'," said Catsimatidis, who lost a bid for the Republican nomination for New York City mayor in 2013.
"Stop spending the money stupidly. They come up with budgets that are stupid budgets, and they want to make everybody else suffer for it."
"Do we need infrastructure?" Catsimatidis added. "Sure, we need infrastructure. Do we need bridges to nowhere? No, we don't need those."
"You're talking about the people that create the jobs," he said of billionaires. "We can get up and go somewhere else."
Leon Cooperman, the outspoken billionaire investor who has long denounced Senator Elizabeth Warren's own proposal for a wealth tax, has added his voice to the exasperation coming from some of the uber-wealthy.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cooperman said of the tax, "I doubt it's legal, and it's stupid."
"What made America great," he said, "was the people who started with nothing like me making a lot of money and giving it back. A relentless attack on wealthy people makes no sense."
Not every billionaire shares...
With a personal fortune that is flirting with US$300 billion, the Tesla CEO — the richest person on earth — has been attacking a Democratic proposal to tax the assets of billionaires like him.
The idea behind the Democratic plan is to use revenue from a billionaires tax to help pay for a domestic policy package being negotiated in the US Congress that would, among other things, help combat climate change, provide universal prekindergarten and expand health care programmes.
Musk, who recently blew past Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world Number 1 in wealth thanks to Tesla's soaring share price, would be liable for perhaps a US$50 billion tax hit under the Democratic proposal.
Forget it, he says.
"My plan," the SpaceX founder tweeted Thursday about his fortune, "is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness."
Musk may well get his wish. Prospects for the billionaires tax appear to be dimming fast in Congress. The pivotal Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is signalling his opposition to the plan along with some others, including some of his fellow Democrats, who have described such a tax as logistically impractical.
Earlier this week, Musk argued, the fundamental problem is that government spends too much money — and he warned that the billionaire tax proposal could lead over time to tax hikes for more Americans.
"Eventually," he tweeted Monday, "they run out of other people's money, and then they come for you."
The Democratic proposal, unveiled Wednesday (US time) by Senator Ron Wyden, would tax the gains of people with either US$1 billion or more in assets or three consecutive years of income of US$100 million or more. It would apply to fewer than an estimated 800 people, who would have to pay tax on the value of tradable items, like stocks, even if they don't sell them. Under current law, such assets are subject to tax only when they're sold.
Supporters have said the tax could raise US$200 billion over 10 years that could help fund Biden's legislative priorities. Republicans are unified in opposition to the proposal. And some have suggested it would be challenged in court.
The Democrats' proposal comes against the backdrop of growing concerns about vast economic inequality, with the wealth of many American multi-billionaires having accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to increased stock and home equity, even more than before the virus struck.
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocery chain and real estate magnate who owns Gristedes, condemned the proposal as something you would "expect Putin to do," referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The billionaire tax plan, Catsimatidis told The Associated Press, is "a little bit insane."
"The American people have reached the point where they're saying, 'Enough is enough'," said Catsimatidis, who lost a bid for the Republican nomination for New York City mayor in 2013.
"Stop spending the money stupidly. They come up with budgets that are stupid budgets, and they want to make everybody else suffer for it."
"Do we need infrastructure?" Catsimatidis added. "Sure, we need infrastructure. Do we need bridges to nowhere? No, we don't need those."
"You're talking about the people that create the jobs," he said of billionaires. "We can get up and go somewhere else."
Leon Cooperman, the outspoken billionaire investor who has long denounced Senator Elizabeth Warren's own proposal for a wealth tax, has added his voice to the exasperation coming from some of the uber-wealthy.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cooperman said of the tax, "I doubt it's legal, and it's stupid."
"What made America great," he said, "was the people who started with nothing like me making a lot of money and giving it back. A relentless attack on wealthy people makes no sense."
Not every billionaire shares...
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