Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is sponsoring a wealth tax that she calls an “Ultra-Millionaire Tax.” It’s designed to collect $3.75 trillion over ten years. Naturally, her write-up quickly veers into ruminations on race and fractional ethnicity. (“The 400 richest Americans currently own more wealth than all Black households and a quarter of Latino households combined.”).
The federal income tax requires Americans to pay portions of their annual earnings to the IRS. But unlike the income tax, which is a one-time assessment, Warren would effectively impose a year-after-year-after-year-after-year tax on some portion of some Americans’ incomes. Right now, earn some money this year and you’ll pay the income tax on your 2026 return. But with this proposed tax, you’ll pay that income tax on your 2026 return, and then in 2027, you’ll pay more tax on those same 2026 earnings—and more in 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, etc. etc.
Warren claims the tax would fall only on “ultra-millionaires.” For these individuals, the tax would fall on:
“[a]ll household assets held anywhere in the world will be included in the net worth measurement, including residences, closely held businesses, assets held in trust, retirement assets, assets held by minor children, and personal property with a value of $50,000 or more.”
The bill would also increase the assessed valuation of some assets and increase the IRS’s enforcement budget. Those individuals wishing to renounce their citizenship and move abroad would be assessed an amount equivalent to 40% of the wealth. Wealth taxes have long been a Holy Grail of populists (mostly on the Left).
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