Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts hopes Congress will slap a new annual “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets, according to a report out Thursday.
Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, two liberal economists at the University of California, Berkeley, have advised Warren on a proposed 2 percent wealth tax on rich Americans with assets above $50 million, as well as a 3 percent wealth tax on those who have more than $1 billion, The Washington Post reported.
The goal is to take a more aggressive approach to the widening income and wealth inequality in the US, Saez told the paper.
The wealth tax would raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years from about 75,000 families, or less than 0.1 percent of American households, Saez said.
Warren’s presidential campaign declined to comment on details of the plan.
“The Warren wealth tax is pretty big. We think it could have a significant effect on wealth concentration in the long run,” Saez said.
“This is a very interesting development with deep root causes: the fact inequality has been increasing so much, particularly in wealth, and the feeling our current tax system doesn’t do a very good job taxing the very richest people.”
Warren’s plan will include at least three new ways to stop tax evasion, a person familiar with the plan told the paper.
The three are more money for the IRS; a mandate requiring some people who pay the wealth tax to be audited every year; and a one-time tax penalty for those who have more than $50 million and try to renounce their US citizenship.