Pity the billionaire, so sensitive and oppressed
In a search for revenue to fund their social infrastructure bill, Democrats are considering a special tax on billionaires. And Republicans, for whom no principle is more sacred than the idea that the wealthy should pay as little in taxes as possible, are aghast.
This particular tax may not be the best of all approaches; it may be included mainly because Democrats could get centrist senators to agree to it. But the reaction from Republicans requires us to remind ourselves of how much of our debate on taxes revolves around absurd myths that have been disproved again and again.
It’s as though every time an automobile manufacturer debuts a new model we have to spend weeks debating whether the human body will burst into flames if accelerated past 50 miles per hour.
The new proposal would apply only to billionaires or those who earn more than $100 million in income three years in a row, a tiny sliver of the wealthiest Americans. It would require them to pay taxes on the increased value of assets such as stocks, regardless of whether they sold the asset that year. As the system works now, people pay taxes on those assets only when they sell them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/26/pity-the-oppressed-billionaire/
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