Democrats‘ recent proposals for funding President Joe Biden‘s trillion-dollar social safety net package introduced the idea of instituting a billionaire’s tax targeted at the annual value gains of assets held by wealthy individuals.
Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia recently stirred concerns over implementing the proposal, saying, “I don’t like it.” He instead favors an alternative form of tax that he calls a “patriotic tax.”
“Everybody in this country that has been blessed and prospered should pay a ‘patriotic tax,'” he told reporters. “If you’re at the point to where you’re able to use all of the tax, tax forms if you can to your advantage and end up with a zero tax liability, but have had a very very good life and you’ve had a lot of opportunities, there should be a 15 percent patriotic tax.”
Under this measure billionaires who escape paying taxes by earning small salaries and borrowing off their assets would find themselves paying taxes to the federal government. Manchin said these individuals should view such payments as their “patriotic duty.”
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