Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Democrats' short-lived dream of a special tax for billionaires was extinguished today by Sen. Joe Manchin.
Driving the news: The West Virginia Democrat doesn't oppose taxing billionaires, but said he's not OK with singling them out.
- Instead, he suggested everyone should have to pay taxes on at least some of their income, reports Axios' Hans Nichols.
The big picture: Under the plan, billionaires would have been taxed at 23.8% on their capital gains, whether realized or not, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.
- For billionaire entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, substantially all of their net worth is capital gains.
Consider Elon Musk, the richest person in the world.
- Under Wyden's proposal, Musk would have to pay 23.8% tax on his $166 billion in Tesla gains. That's $39.5 billion. He'd be allowed to pay it in five equal annual installments of $7.9 billion.
- If Musk decided to defer the tax on his illiquid assets, he'd also need to pay an extra interest payment, with the rate set initially at about 1.2% per year.
The bottom line: Taxing unrealized capital gains is as good as dead for this Congress — but it will be a feature in Democratic primaries and is now part of the public consciousness, ala Medicare for All, Hans tells me.