Corporate Democrats and Wall Street executives nix President Joe Biden's 'billionaire tax proposal': report

09 February 2023

Democratic strategists and top Wall Street giants hail President Joe Biden's billionaire tax proposal as "dead on arrival," CNBC reports.

The plan, which Biden announced during his 2023 State of the Union address, ensures "the ultra-wealthy would owe an annual tax of 20% on unrealized gains or losses in the value of those assets, whether or not they had actually pocketed that gain by selling them," according to CNBC.

Chairman of investment advisory firm Signum Global and 2020 Biden supporter, Charles Myers said Biden's plan is "dead on arrival."

However, other billionaire investors are "skeptical" about its intention, worried that their wealth will be negatively impacted.

Because of this longtime skepticism, Democratic political strategist Jake Dilemani said, "I don’t think anyone realistically expects a billionaire’s tax, in its current proposed form, to come to fruition this year or next."

Dilemani added, "Within the Democratic party, there is dissention regarding how to move this forward, particularly with unrealized gains being part of the equation."

Contrary to fellow investors, billionaire banker Leon Cooperman, who voted for Biden in 2020, told CNBC Biden's proposal is "DOA and stupid to boot." Cooperman opted to "accuse Democrats of deliberately misleading people about how the billionaire tax proposal would work."

He said Democrats "lie about the taxes billionaires pay, as they include unrealized gains as part of income."

Jared Bernstein, White House economist, argued this is not the case. He told “unrealized gains” will not be taxed as part of the plan.

"What it really is, or at least the way we see, it is a prepayment or withholding tax on future capital gains," he said.

Per CNBC, last month, lawmakers from California, New York, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and Hawaii established Fund our Future, "a national effort to move wealth tax measures across the country."

New York Democratic State Senator Gustavo Rivera said in the group's statement, "The ultra-rich benefit from our communities, from our public infrastructure and the labor of working families. And because of our backwards tax system, they can avoid paying the taxes that they owe."

He noted, "We must restructure our tax system for fairness."

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who recently registered as Independent after identifying as a Democrat for years, could influence the success of the proposal "if she were to publicly endorse the plan," according to CNBC.

The senator asserted her openness to the possibility of a billionaire income tax, Bloomberg reports, in 2021 when Senator Ron Wyden (D-OH), proposed a similar plan.

Hannah Hurley, Sinema's spokeswoman said, "As always, Kyrsten welcomes the opportunity to review and discuss changes to the tax code, including this proposal from the President."

CNBC's full report is available to read at this link.

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