Sanders wrote that despite the economic meltdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, some tech giant has seen their wealth surge massively. Thus, he proposed to introduce a one-tax on the wealth created during the pandemic period.
The coronavirus pandemic is likely to have far-reaching economic consequences all across the globe. The IMF has already said that we are in one of the worst recessions after the Great Depression of the 1930s. On Thursday, August 6, former presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced new tax legislation. Sanders’ who always stressed on taxing the super-rich has once again spoken about it. Sanders’ new legislation talks of taxing America’s super-rich who have made billions of dollars even during the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the heavy economic slowdown, tech companies’ businesses have registered massive growth. Giants like Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) have announced stellar Q2 2020 results. As more and more people started working from home, tech companies saw a massive surge in consumers using the products and platforms.
Dubbed as the “Make Billionaires Pay Act”, Sanders’ bill aims to impose a 60% one-time tax on gains made by the billionaires during the period between March 18, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021. Sanders said that these funds should go to pay for the health-expenses for all Americans for a year.
“In my view, we can no longer tolerate the three wealthiest people in America owning more wealth than the bottom 50 percent, while over 30 million Americans have lost their jobs and 92 million people are either uninsured or under-insured,” he said.
Who Will Pay More Under New Tax Offered by Sanders?
If taxed as per the Sanders’ bill, this move would alone bring $420 billion to the U.S. Treasury. This tax collection will happen on $731 billion in wealth created by around 467 billionaires. Under this tax proposal, the world’s richest man and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would have to pay a one-time tax of $42.8 billion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who surged to the ranks of the world’s top ten richest people, will also end up paying $27.5 billion. Mark Zuckerberg whose net worth recently surged over $100 billion will have to pay $22.8 billion. Speaking about it, Sanders wrote:
“While Amazon is denying paid sick leave, hazard pay and personal protective equipment to 450,000 of its workers, Jeff Bezos has increased his wealth by over $70 billion. While 40 million Americans face eviction, Elon Musk has nearly tripled his wealth over the past four months and now has a net worth of more than $70 billion”.
Sanders also criticized the Federal Reserve for its actions to “prop up the stock market”. On the other hand, the Fed and the Trump administration have been looking to bring more liquidity and extend the stimulus package.