THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET is the lawmaking equivalent of a vision board or a mission statement: a moderately delusional wish list that is intended to provide motivation. The president’s budget is never legally binding—Congress still retains some tenuous grip on the purse strings—but it is always instructive.
President Joe Biden has long been, in the immortal words of Editor at Large Matt Welch, a rusty weather vane, creaking reluctantly in the direction that the winds of his party blow. With his new budget proposal, the breezes have finally brought us to the shores of a serious wealth tax debate.
Biden isn’t calling his proposal a wealth tax, of course. It’s the “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax,” and it imposes a minimum 20 percent tax on the income of households with more than—oddly—$100 million in wealth. Biden’s proposal is smaller and more pragmatic than the earlier variants from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I– Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.)—par for the course with Biden. Most notable is that even with implausibly optimistic estimates of the federal government’s ability to collect, the whole mess is supposed to raise an average of a mere $36 billion per year over the next 10 years.
The University of California, Berkeley, economist and Warren adviser Gabriel Zucman estimated what several billionaires would pay under the plan’s 20 percent tax on unrealized gains in illiquid assets, pinning JeffBezos’ bill at $35 billion, Warren Buffett’s at $26 billion, and Jim Walton’s at $7 billion.
This story is from the June 2022 edition of Reason magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2022 edition of Reason magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
50 Years of D&D: You Can't Copyright Fun
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the granddaddy of tabletop role-playing games and one of the urtexts of nerd culture.
The Alzheimer's Test You're Not Allowed To Have
MILLIONS FACE THE shadow of Alzheimer’s, a disease that steals memories and devastates lives.
An Early Test for Alzheimer's
SHOULD YOU BE allowed to take a blood test that could tell you if you’re already at risk of Alzheimer’s disease? Last year, Quest Diagnostics began offering a consumer-initiated blood test for $399 (not covered by insurance) that detects the buildup of proteins associated with the development of Alzheimer’s in customers’ plasma.
Caging Lab-Grown Meat
LAB-GROWN MEAT IS a scientific marvel. We’ve managed, through pure human ingenuity, to create something that looks like meat, cooks like meat, tastes pretty much like meat, and comes from animal cells—yet doesn’t require the slaughter of a single living animal.
The 'Migrant Crime' Wave, Debunked
“THE UNITED STATES is being overrun by the Biden migrant crime,” said former President Donald Trump during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in February. “It’s a new form of vicious violation to our country.”
Don't Co-Parent With Congress
I’M ALWAYS PUZZLED when I hear other parents say they’re worried about the effects social media might be having on their children.
Is Chinese Garlic a Threat to National Security?
IS A STAPLE ingredient in your kitchen secretly undermining American sovereignty? Sen. Rick Scott (R–Fla.) seems to believe so.
Launch Approved? Not So Fast, Says Sluggish FAA
MOST AMERICANS ARE eager to see NASA astronauts return to the moon and push humanity’s boundaries with future exploration of Mars.
SpaceX Edges Closer to the Moon
ARTEMIS II IS a crewed moon flyby mission, the first in a series of missions meant to get American astronauts back to the moon and eventually to Mars.
Blaming Tech for Teen Troubles
Jonathan Haidt’s clever, insufficient case against smartphones
