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Bernie Sanders mulls 'Make Billionaires Pay Act', zones in on Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg
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IANS | 08 Aug, 2020
Three Senators, led by Bernie Sanders, have attracted global attention
for introducing the "Make Billionaires Pay Act," aiming to tax US tech's
top leaders tens of billions of dollars in wealth made during the
coronavirus pandemic.
The "Make Billionaires Pay Act" would
impose a one-time 60 per cent tax on wealth gains made by billionaires
between March 18, 2020, and January 1, 2021.
Riding growing
global despair about inequity, the Senators suggest that funds would be
used to pay for out-of-pocket health-care expenses for all Americans for
a year. Besides Sanders, the Senators are Ed Markey and Kirsten
Gillibrand.
"Over and over again, we have been told that we
cannot possibly afford to guarantee healthcare as a right by moving to a
Medicare for All system - even on a temporary basis during the worst
public health emergency in over a hundred years. Well, it turns out that
is not quite accurate," a post on Sanders' Senate page argued.
"While
a record-breaking 5.4 million Americans recently lost their health
insurance, 467 billionaires in our country increased their wealth by an
estimated $731.8 billion during the pandemic. Incredibly, as a result of
the Trump tax giveaway to the rich, these billionaires currently pay a
lower effective tax rate than teachers or truck drivers."
Citing
the Americans for Tax Fairness and Institute for Policy, Sanders said:
"If we taxed 60 per cent of the windfall gains these billionaires made
from March 18th until August 5th, we could raise $421.7 billion. That's
enough revenue to allow Medicare to pay all of the out-of-pocket
healthcare expenses for everyone in America over the next 12 months
(based on an estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal
Budget).
"Yes, that's right. By taxing 60 per cent of the wealth
gains made by just 467 billionaires during this horrific pandemic, we
could guarantee healthcare as a right for an entire year. And
billionaires would still be able to pocket more than $310.1 billion in
wealth gains during the worst economic downturn since the Great
Depression."
Illustrative examples cited include Jeff Bezos,
whose wealth has gone up by 63 per cent or $71.3 billion during the
pandemic, paying a one-time wealth tax of $42.8 billion; Elon Musk,
whose wealth has nearly tripled during the pandemic from $24.6 billion
to $70.5 billion, would pay a one-time wealth tax of $27.5 billion; Mark
Zuckerberg, who is now worth $92.7 billion, up from $54.7 billion,
would pay a one-time wealth tax of $22.8 billion and the Walton family,
the wealthiest family in America, which has seen their wealth grow by
$21.5 billion, would pay a one-time wealth tax of $12.9 billion.
"At
a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when so many of our
people are hurting, it is time to fundamentally change our national
priorities. Instead of more tax breaks for the rich while more Americans
die because they cannot afford to go to a doctor, let us expand
Medicare and save lives by demanding that billionaires pay their fair
share of taxes."
Aiming to distinguish the not-so-super-rich from
their moves, those with net worth of less than $1 billion wouldn't pay
more in taxes. While Zuckerberg, Bezos and the Waltons haven't yet
reacted, Musk took the challenge head on, with a meme. "Everytime the
Bernster mentions a free government program, chug somebody else's beer",
the irrepressible billionaire tweeted back.
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