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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBernie Sanders pushes tax that'd cost Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg billions
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla boss Elon Musk and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg would have to shell out tens of billions of dollars in taxes under a bill introduced by Democratic Sens. Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey and Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday. The Make Billionaires Pay Act would impose a onetime 60% tax on wealth gains made by billionaires during the coronavirus pandemic.
The emergency tax would apply to the period between March 18 and the beginning of 2021 and would be used to cover necessary health care expenses of the uninsured and underinsured for a year (including prescription drugs).
The proposal comes a week after Amazon reported that its revenue rose 40%, to $88.9 billion, in the second quarter of 2020 (the highest percentage increase in two years). Tesla reported a net $104 million of income, its fourth consecutive profitable quarter, and Facebook reported revenue of $18.69 billion, beating Wall Street expectations.
The legislation would see Bezos, America's richest person, pay a onetime wealth tax of $42.8 billion. It'd cost Musk $27.5 billion, and Zuckerberg would pay $22.8 billion. Walmart founders the Walton family would be hit with a $12.9 billion tax bill.
https://www.cnet.com/news/bernie-sanders-pushes-tax-thatd-cost-jeff-bezos-elon-musk-and-mark-zuckerberg-billions/?ftag=CAD-04-10abi6g&bhid=24447454298893839703959737945916&mid=12971524&cid=534320049
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)Good luck with that Bernie!
FoxNewsSucks
(10,429 posts)They might struggle to pay their rent! They might have to split a package of ramen noodles into lunch AND dinner!
This tax needs to be annual, not just one-time.
Lunabell
(6,078 posts)they'd do it voluntarily.
Even in normal times their wealth is obscene, but in the face of this deadly pandemic it is only fair that they give back to this country that has given so much to them. It is what a good citizen would do.