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:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
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.”
