Contributor: Why billionaires shouldn't fuss over the wealth tax
Key takeaways
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- Billionaires and their closest allies recently launched a full-court press against California’s proposed wealth tax, which would levy a one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ net worth.
- Other detractors raise fears that this one-time assessment could become permanent, or eventually be applied to nonbillionaires, including pension and retirement benefits for working-class Americans.
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Billionaires and their closest allies recently launched a full-court press against California’s proposed wealth tax, which would levy a one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ net worth. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, now worth nearly $300 billion, likens the tax to Soviet oppression and has spent roughly $57 million to oppose it. He and a few fellow billionaires are even threatening fleeing the state to avoid it.
Some critics of the proposed tax argue that it’s poorly designed, that there is no reliable way to assess taxable value of assets other than cash and that wealth taxes generally have high administrative costs and disappointing revenue. Other detractors raise fears that this one-time assessment could become permanent, or eventually be applied to nonbillionaires, including pension and retirement benefits for working-class Americans.