A Congressman from New York is proposing a “Patriot Tax” for wealthy Americans.
Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) explained during an interview with The Hill that his “Patriot Tax” would force Americans to pay a one-time, 2.5% tax on wealth between $50 million and $100 million. Meanwhile, those with wealth above $100 million would pay 5%. The proposal would allow taxpayers to make payments over the course of five years.
Suozzi explained that the tax would be “a way to help your country to build back better.”
“We all know that people who are wealthy did very well during the pandemic and people that were low-income people did not do well,” he asserted.
Suozzi has not yet introduced a bill on the matter; nevertheless, leading Democrats have recently released similar legislation.
In March, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and other progressives introduced a tax on “ultra-millionaire” households — a policy that would help to fund President Biden’s new social programs.
A statement from Warren’s office reads:
The ultra-rich and powerful have rigged the rules in their favor so much that the top 0.1% pay a lower effective tax rate than the bottom 99%, and billionaire wealth is 40% higher than before the COVID crisis began… This is money that should be invested in child care and early education, K-12, infrastructure, all of which are priorities of President Biden and Democrats in Congress. I’m confident lawmakers will catch up to the overwhelming majority of Americans who are demanding more fairness, more change, and who believe it’s time for a wealth tax.
In 2019, Warren proposed the “Real Corporate Profits Tax,” which would “ensure every corporation pays their fair share.”
As Warren’s team explained at the time:
This new tax only applies to companies that report more than $100 million in profits — about the 1200 most profitable firms in the country last year. That first $100 million is left alone, but for every dollar of profit above $100 million, the corporation will pay a 7% tax. Any company profitable enough to hit the Real Corporate Profits Tax will pay that tax in addition to whatever its liability might be under our current corporate tax rules.
In May 2021, the “Patriotic Millionaires” — a coalition of people with incomes over $1 million or assets over $5 million — protested in front of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ homes in New York and Washington. Reflecting Suozzi’s “Patriot Tax” proposal, the group argues that wealthy Americans have a patriotic duty to give more of their incomes to the federal bureaucracy.
“Tax the rich. Save America. Yes it really is that simple,” reads one of their billboards targeted at Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
One year earlier, the Congressional Budget Office revealed that the top 20% of American households pay nearly 90% of federal income taxes.