Maybe it’s no accident that presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren got the number of co-equal branches of government wrong in an interview with CNN. It appears the senator from Massachusettes is now committed to following in freshman Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s footsteps.
According to CNBC, Warren will be unveiling her plan for a “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets. Warren’s tax would affect less than 0.1% of U.S. households and raise $2.75 trillion over a decade, according to Emmanuel Saez, her economics adviser.
In a video announcing her plan to run in 2020, Warren said:
America’s middle class is under attack. How did we get here? Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie. And they enlisted politicians to cut them a bigger slice.
Every person in America should be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules, & take care of themselves & the people they love. That’s what I’m fighting for, & that’s why I’m launching an exploratory committee for president. I need you with me: https://t.co/BNl2I1m8OX pic.twitter.com/uXXtp94EvY
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 31, 2018
Warren’s proposed tax comes on the heels of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal for a 70% marginal tax rate to be applied to what she dubbed the “tippy tops” of income earners. Despite her use of nurseryish-sounding terminology to promote the plan, it won the approval of 59% of voters, according to a recent Hill-HarrisX survey.
Warren’s newest proposal seems to be a retooling of her Accountable Capitalism Act introduced last August, which if enacted “would redistribute trillions of dollars from rich executives and shareholders to the middle class.”
