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Media Roundtable: Biden's wealth tax plan proposes a minimum 20% tax on households worth more than $100 million

Polls show that most voters across the political spectrum support higher taxes on the very wealthy. After years of talk, will these changes now be enacted? (Image: Yuri Keegstra/Flickr)
Polls show that most voters across the political spectrum support higher taxes on the very wealthy. After years of talk, will these changes now be enacted? (Image: Yuri Keegstra/Flickr)

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we discuss President Biden’s proposed wealth tax, which calls for a minimum 20 percent tax on households worth more than $100 million.

According to the White House factsheet, in 2021 alone, America’s more than 700 billionaires saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion, yet in a typical year, billionaires would pay just eight percent of their total realized and unrealized income in taxes. A firefighter or teacher can pay double that tax rate.

Guest:

Jesse Eisinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning senior reporter for ProPublica and author of The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives

Web Resources:

ProPublica: Taking Aim at Billionaire Tax Avoiders, Biden Proposes Minimum Tax for Ultrarich

ProPublica: The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

The New York Times: Billionaire’s Tax Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds

The New York Times: Inside the IRS Files of the Ultra-Wealthy

Boston Review: Taxing the Superrich

Malihe Razazan is the senior producer of KALW's daily call-in program, Your Call.
Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.