Democratic presidential hopeful and billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday advocated for increasing taxes on the wealthy, but said the “wealth tax” proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts isn’t the way to go.
“The wealth tax just doesn’t work — it’s been tried [elsewhere],” Mr. Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, said on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“We have to raise taxes on the wealthy — that’s the way you fix income inequality and that’s where we get money to do the things that we need to do,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who is worth an estimated $56 billion. “But you don’t just go and do it for the heck of it because you want to be mean — you do it because you need the money and you’re going to spend it wisely.”
Ms. Warren had proposed a 2% annual tax on assets of more than $50 million, with an additional 1% tax on wealth of more than $1 billion. She also suggested doubling the wealth tax for billionaires from 3% to 6% as one way to help pay for her “Medicare for All” health insurance plan.
Mr. Bloomberg was not on the debate stage Tuesday evening in Des Moines because he isn’t accepting campaign contributions, but he has risen to fifth place in some recent polling on the 2020 Democratic field.
He has now poured more than $200 million into his presidential bid, according to ad trackers — easily tops among the Democratic contenders.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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