Tax the Rich -- Pass the Wealth Tax
March 22, 2021
- The wealth of CA’s 154 billionaires increased by $175B in the first months of COVID19. 11 more became billionaires. Meanwhile, 5M Californians lost their jobs. CA has over 1/4 of America's billionaires AND has America's highest poverty rate.
- The 400 richest Americans currently own more wealth than all Black households plus a quarter of Latino households combined. According to an analysis from economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman from the University of California-Berkeley, the richest top 0.1% has seen its share of American wealth nearly triple from 7% to 20% between the late 1970s and 2016, while the bottom 90% has seen its share of wealth decline from 35% to 25% in that same period.
- Meanwhile, the tax burden for the working and middle-class has only grown. This regressive system of taxation drives our widening inequality in California.
- New polling by Binder Research Associates for Build Affordable Faster CA (BAFCA) shows that 70% of California voters support a Millionaire’s Tax -- which would raise $6 billion annually -- to protect vital public and community services.
- In the midst of unprecedented costs to our economy and public health, and drastic state revenue losses, homelessness will skyrocket and Californians who have lost their income due to the pandemic will have no support from the state beyond limited rent relief.
- It is time to create a tax on ultra-wealthy Californians at a rate of .4% on net wealth in excess of $50 million. (Taxpayers married and filing jointly, $25 million for singles and those filing separately.) Any person with gross wealth in excess of this amount would be required to file a wealth tax form listing the fair market value of all assets owned, by asset class including stocks, bonds, cash, collectibles and other holdings. According to UC Berkeley economists, this would raise an estimated $6.7 billion per year and impact only 12,400 California taxpayers each year.