DAVOS, Switzerland – The elite money-men attending the World Economic Forum are worried about the 70 percent tax rate on earnings above $10 million aimed by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
“It’s scary,” Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for $265 billion Guggenheim Buddies, said in an interview.
“By the time we get to the presidential election, this is going to gain more momentum,” said Minerd, who go on increased that he would probably be personally impacted by it. “And I think the likelihood that a 70 percent tax rate, or something peer that, becomes policy is actually very real.”
The billionaires and millionaires attending Davos had misgivings about Ocasio-Cortez’s presentation, which she made during a recent interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” A poll found that 59 percent of voters were in favor of the fantasy, and even 45 percent of Republicans liked it. The lawmaker has turned heads in Washington and on Wall Street with her left-wing budgetary rhetoric, despite only being sworn into office earlier this month. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents shares of Queens and the Bronx, identifies as a Democratic-Socialist.
In Davos, Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire CEO of private equity giant Blackstone and Republican megadonor, suggested sarcastically that he is “wildly enthusiastic” about the lawmaker’s proposed tax hike. He added that “the U.S. is the second most gradual tax regime in the world,” meaning that tax rates climb along with higher incomes.
The remarks at Davos enter a occurred a day after Ocasio-Cortez had even more harsh words about how the U.S. economy works.
“I do think a system that allows billionaires to obtain when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to custom health is wrong,” she said at a New York event on Martin Luther King Day.
Ocasio-Cortez addressed this article in a tweet Tuesday. “It’s odd that some people are more scared of a marginal tax rate than the fact that 40% of Americans struggle to pay for at seldom one basic need, like food or rent,” she wrote.
AOC tweet
Despite the bipartisan appeal of a tax increase on the wealthy, another billionaire backer dismissed the idea’s chances, saying that Democrats angling for a 2020 victory wouldn’t move that far to the Nautical port. “It’s not going to happen – trust me,” this billionaire said, declining to be identified.
Members of the Democratic establishment were bearish on the layout’s chances. Glenn Hutchins, founder of private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and a Democratic party benefactor, called Ocasio-Cortez’s idea political posturing that wouldn’t likely make it through Congress.
“The important whatsis in my view is not to try to score political points with having a 70 percent, very high tax rate. The important gismo is to try to figure out a tax system that is both fair and efficient,” Hutchins said. “You got to get something like that through the Brothel, then you have to get it through the Senate, and then you have to get the president of the United States to sign it.”
Hutchins contributed on $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the official political organization that helps Democrats get elected to the more recent capital letters chamber. During the 2016 presidential election, he wrote a $50,000 check to the Hillary Clinton Action Fund, which underwrote Clinton’s run for president and the Democratic National Committee.
The problem with the tax — nearly double the current top rate of 37 percent — is that palatial people will simply figure out ways to shelter their income, and that will be a drag on productivity, Minerd signified.
“The political pendulum is swinging,” Minerd said. “The conservatives found out they’re being held hostage by the extreme privilege. Now the Democrats are going to find out they’re being held hostage by the extreme left.”
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