Polling shows that tax billionaires are a popular proposition among likely voters across all political parties, as Congress considers a variety of proposals to raise taxes on rich people.
A November pollData for Progress surveyed 1,300 people and found that 67% of likely voters believe billionaires should pay more taxes. Only 22% believe billionaires pay enough. With 79 percent of respondents saying this, Democrats were the most likely to believe that billionaires should pay more. Similar responses were received by 70% of Independents and 53% of Republicans.
A proposal to tax billionaires’ assets is also popular among likely voters, the poll finds. Sixty-five percent of likely voters polled support taxing billionaires’ unrealized capital gains, with 26 percent opposing. With 81 percent of Democrats supporting it, the support is strongest. However, a small majority of Republicans support it, with only 50 percent supporting it and 42 percent opposing.
After hearing arguments in favor and against the proposal’s proposal, the likely voters were slightly less favorable with 61% supporting it. Although it gained one percentage point of support among Republicans, this is within the poll’s three-point margin of error.
The polling comes as Democratic lawmakers consider raising taxes on the wealthy as the wealthiest Americans become exponentially more wealthy during the pandemic. The poll’s question on taxing assets was modeled after a proposal by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to “ensure billionaires pay tax every year, just like working Americans,” according to a press release.
The Billionaires Income Tax would levy tax on tradable assets such as stocks, paying a tax for gains and a deduction for losses. Non-tradable assets wouldn’t be subject to the tax until the asset is sold. “For too long billionaires have played by a different set of rules that allow them [to] cheat the system and pay nothing in taxes,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) in support of the proposal.
Wyden’s proposal is a weaker version of Warren’s Wealth taxThe tax would be levied on wealth above $50 million and a higher rate for wealth above $1 billion. Currently, billionaires often avoid taxes. nearly entirelyBecause of various loopholes or policies that allow them unlimited wealth accumulation with little or no regulation
The Billionaires Income Tax was once in effect. being consideredThe Build Back Better Act would only tax a portion to qualify for inclusion. roughly 745 billionairesCurrently, the U.S. has 614 compared to 614 in March 2020. The proposal is not very broad, but it is nevertheless quite narrow. is estimated that it would bring in $557 billion in revenue — nearly a third of the reconciliation bill’s price tag.
However, lawmakers are overwhelmingly against the idea of including any sort of wealth taxIn the bill. Its main revenue raisersThere are some moderate proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy and give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the ability to pursue wealthy tax dodgers. The state and local tax (SALT), break that conservative Democrats insist on including could endanger millionaires Tax breakAccording to some estimates, it is approximately.
Previous polling has also found that levying taxes on the rich is widely popular among the public, despite many Republicans and right-wing Democrats’ opposition to such proposals. Allowing unpopular politicians like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) to dictate Democrats’ tax and social policies weakens their stance — and such a regressive tax policy could end up hurting Democrats in the upcoming 2022 midterms.
