Elizabeth Warren: What to know about the 2020 candidate's wealth tax proposal

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opened her 2020 campaign with a wealth tax policy proposal that was inspired by University of California-Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. The plan would tax the wealthiest Americans on their assets.

Key details

• Annual 2% tax on assets above a taxpayer's first $50 million, and 3% on assets that exceed $1 billion.
• The wealth tax would raise an estimated $2.75 trillion over 10 years from 75,000 families.
• Warren is branding it as the "Ultra-Millionaire Tax."
• To fight tax evasion, the policy would bolster the IRS budget, install a minimum audit rate for the very rich and add a 40% "exit tax" on the very rich who try to give up U.S. citizenship.
• Warren has also proposed a universal child care program that would use revenues from the wealth tax to provide public and family-run centers to guarantee care from birth until schooling age.

Arguments in favor of Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax

• Addresses glaring wealth inequality.
• Gets to the heart of people's wealth: Assets instead of income.
• Added source of government revenue for child care proposal and other programs.
• Combats tax evasion.

Arguments opposed to Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax

• Could be unconstitutional.
• Opposition to redistributive tax policies.
• Risk of motivating rich taxpayers to go to other countries or maneuver to hide their wealth.
• Difficulty of valuing wealth on an annual basis (art collections, family-run businesses).
• Unrealistic to get through Congress.
• Administrative difficulty.

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