You won’t believe it. The newest liberal idea for funding coronavirus relief, as explained in the New York Times this morning, is—wait for it now!—a wealth tax on the rich! Since we’re not supposed to be touching our faces right now, you’re not allowed to smack your forehead and exclaim, “Why didn’t I think of that!? Why is it that liberals have all of the best new old ideas?”
Here’s the heart of the proposal from Yale professor Daniel Markovits:
The wealthiest 5 percent of American families now hold $57 trillion, or two-thirds of all household wealth in the country (up from about half in 1960). An exemption for the first $2.5 million of household wealth would exclude the bottom 95 percent from paying any tax at all and leave the top 5 percent with total taxable wealth of roughly $40 trillion. A 5 percent tax on the richest 5 percent of households could thus raise up to $2 trillion.
Since Markovits is a law professor, the first question of my cross-examination will be: “So why do you want to help out the big banks?” Because there are lots of small business people in this country who have (or had) ill-liquid assets worth more than $2.5 million who will have to take out bank loans to pay their one-time 5% wealth tax. Great business for Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase. And more debt to service is just what the small business sector of the economy needs right now.
Second question for Prof. Markovits: “I note that Yale has (or had) an endowment of $30 billion. Will your wealth tax apply to Yale’s endowment as well?. . . Ah—I thought not.”
By the end of this week, I predict we’ll see the sequel in the Times or The Atlantic: “With oil prices so low, this is the ideal time for [wait for it now!]‚—a carbon tax!”
This seems like the ideal time to counter with the sage axiom of my mentor M. Stanton Evans: “Any country that can land a man on the moon can abolish the income tax.” There—fixed it for them.
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