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Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended her latest wealth-tax proposal Tuesday, telling CNBC she believes most Americans won’t mind being rich enough to pay it.
The Massachusetts Democrat made the comments in an interview on “Squawk Box,” one day after rolling out the proposal for a 2% annual wealth tax on individuals who have a net worth above $50 million. People whose net worth is above $1 billion would face a 3% annual tax under the plan from Warren and other progressives, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Warren campaigned on a similar wealth-tax idea during her unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019 and 2020. Now, like then, she pitched asking wealthy Americans to pay 2 or 3 cents more.
“It’s set up now to say, we’re not going to collect taxes on any asset worth less than $50,000, so this is not intrusive. It’s not about coming into people’s homes and valuing their Sub Zeros or figuring out what their four-year-old cars are worth,” Warren said on CNBC.
“But it says if you’ve got a fortune above $50 million, you pay on it. And if your fortune is below $50 million, you don’t. Good for you, either way,” she added. “I think most people would rather be rich and pay 2 cents. This is not very fancy. It really is a tax on fortunes above $50 million.”
The idea of a wealth tax in the U.S. has faced a range of criticisms, including from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who has said it has “very difficult implementation problems.”