Wealth taxes are notoriously tricky when they have been implemented elsewhere. But, in all those cases people had the option to repatriate their wealth to the US. I’m not sure history would repeat it self if the biggest dog on the block got in the game.
Also, not having to worry about SS for 75 yrs is an amazing amount of breathing room for one of our countries best programs. Every American adult would be able to have confidence in the program they are paying into.
This is worth a try. If it fails, it fails. It will be trivially easy to roll back a tax that isn’t working. At least we would have tried.
But need to get dems into house control and another senate seat or two for it to actually happen. 2024 matters a LOT!
That’s my absolute biggest problem with this “young people want socialism” bit running around constantly. I’ve been paying into SS for almost 2 decades, and there hasn’t been a single day that I’ve been able to think “even if I don’t save $3mil for retirement as recommended, I know SS got me”. I’m giving money away fully expecting to never get anything in return.
Socialism doesn’t seem that bad when you are actively participating in it already. The tiny violins get real loud when it’s also stated that the wealthy would be paying into a system they won’t benefit from. Meanwhile I’m subsidizing every stupid ass Boomer in existence…
If we stabilize SS for 75 yrs it would create a radical change in the way people feel about gov programs.
Bring up SS in ANY company and people will say “if it’s there” or some variation. None of us trust the program. Few of us understand that the mistrust is an intentional product that the American right has been working to create from day one.
Wealth taxes are opposed by essentially all economists for being a nightmare to administer, raising less revenue than planned, and causing significant capital flight and other detrimental economic effects. Beyond that, there are also serious Constitutional questions. The Federal Income Tax had to be explicitly authorized by a Constitutional Amendment, remember. I’d be very skeptical that this SCOTUS would find that
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes
actually meant to authorize a tax on wealth, not income.
Social Security is obviously a mess, but there are other options. Income past $160,000 isn’t subject to SSA taxes. Raising that limit would do quite a lot, though it would anger some wealthy doctors, lawyers, and software engineers who like to pretend to be progressive.
I don’t disagree there. I remember going to my grandparents as a kid and it was almost a weekly headline; “SS cuts threaten retirees” or something along those lines
