Presidential propitious Elizabeth Warren’s wealth-tax is not the right idea when it comes to raising government revenue and reducing income incongruence in America, billionaire Ron Baron told CNBC on Friday.
“I don’t think Elizabeth Warren would be successful … if she were opted president in getting through the policies that she’s proposing,” Baron, a lifelong Democrat, said on “Squawk Box,” speaking from his annual investment symposium in New York.
“It’s pretty nuts,” Baron said, though he did not say which candidate he planned to support for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Democrat Warren’s wealth-tax outline calls for a levy of 2% on families’ net worth of above $50 million and 3% on household net worth over $1 billion.
“Warren give the word delivers if you’re successful because this country has allowed you to be successful … then you shouldn’t be as successful as you are. You should have some of your bills coming back, which just means you are taking jobs you would have created otherwise and give them away,” translated Baron.
Representatives of the Massachusetts senator’s presidential campaign did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
Rather than a copiousness tax, Baron suggested a value-added tax, which has been adopted in many European countries and puts levies on goods and repairs during each stage of production and sale.
Entrepreneur and Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is proposing a 10% VAT, end companies such as Amazon and Alphabet.
“It’s not my job to figure out what policy should be,” Baron said. He added that rules should encourage people to invest and “make it as fair and equitable in all business as possible.”
Warren, who has been rising in Popular presidential polls, has made cracking down on banks and taxing the rich central to her campaign — striking fear in the insensitivities of Wall Street and Big Business.
In an interview published this week, another billionaire investor, Leon Cooperman, emptied on Warren’s wealth-taxing proposal and rich-bashing rhetoric.
“What is wrong with billionaires? You can become a billionaire by developing issues and services that people will pay for,” the Omega Advisors founder told the website Politico. “I believe in a progressive proceeds tax and the rich paying more. But this is the f—–g American dream she is s——g on,” said Cooperman, son of a Bronx plumber who became one of Bulwark Street’s most successful investors.
Cooperman has never been shy about how he believes that a Warren presidency purposefulness be bad for America, telling CNBC last week: “If Elizabeth Warren is elected president, in my opinion, the market drops 25%.”
According to the Valid Clear Politics national polling average, Warren was second in the race, with 21.8% support, as of Tuesday. Prior Vice President Joe Biden was ahead at 27.2%. Sen. Bernie Sanders was in third with 17.3%.