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Open original source ↗A couple of important thoughts and clarifications:
Where is Bernie right?
He is right that a handful of the Tech Billionaire class are completely and totally loathsome. Monopolists who’ve flouted privacy, dampened free speech, enabled debanking and sewed societal chaos with their money while they haven’t given back in any meaningful way relative to their wealth. But not everyone is like this. Most have become successful by working hard and making useful things that many people need and has generally added to societal progress.
Where is Bernie wrong?
This bill is not a Billionaire Tax. In fact, the state AG removed that language from the title as it will appear on the ballot. Why? Because it is a bill that constitutionally allows the government to asses a tax on all private property. While it starts with a “billionaire” it allows the legislature to continue to implement it and move down the ranks and apply it as it sees fit.
While targeting Billionaires are an easy ways to get a bill like this passed, mathematically, they are a small pool. Make no mistake, the real honey pot of money is in the middle class and this bill can be applied to them too.
There are many ways to get Billionaires to pay more - so I would encourage Bernie and everyone else to find more targeted ways to do it. Taxing margin loans is the simplest and most effective form of example. Closing the carried interest loophole is another.
But the current proposal is a one-way ratchet on the constitution that empowers California politicians to eventually seize property from everyone in California.
Buyer beware.
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Yes: We need a wealth tax on billionaires. https://t.co/2OUwSos5De
BernieSanders ↗