Share the Wealth 1934 Redux
Picture it. The Great Depression swallowed hope. Huey Long, the Kingfish, concluded his conquest of Louisiana and turned his attention to Washington D.C. Long became a US Senator in 1932, but he had his sights on even higher office. Long's power came from the "little man," a class who always, despite poll taxes and other voting barriers, turned out in large numbers at the polls to support him. The key to winning the "little man" nationally, the Kingfish believed, was redistribution of wealth. The name of his plan was "Share the Wealth."
A judge -- yes, a judge -- shot Long before Long got the chance to run for President.
The key planks of the Share The Wealth platform included:
- No person would be allowed to accumulate a personal net worth of more than 300 times the average family fortune, which would limit personal assets to between $5 million and $8 million. A graduated capital levy tax would be assessed on all persons with a net worth exceeding $1 million.
- Annual incomes would be limited to $1 million and inheritances would be capped at $5.1 million.
- Every family was to be furnished with a homestead allowance of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country. Every family was to be guaranteed an annual family income of at least $2,000 to $2,500, or not less than one-third of the average annual family income in the United States. Yearly income, however, cannot exceed more than 300 times the size of the average family income.
- An old-age pension would be made available for all persons over 60.
- To balance agricultural production, the government would preserve/store surplus goods, abolishing the practice of destroying surplus food and other necessities due to lack of purchasing power.
- Veterans would be paid what they were owed (a pension and healthcare benefits).
- Free education and training for all students to have equal opportunities in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life.
- The raising of revenue and taxes for the support of this program was to come from the reduction of swollen fortunes from the top, as well as for the support of public works to give employment whenever there may be any slackening necessary in private enterprise.
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Why did I remember this today? I remembered it because Bernie Sanders has a plan to tax wealth. Sanders' plan is more modest than Long's plan. Still, a wealth tax would be a substantial jolt to our system designed to tax income.
As outlined in the six-page fact sheet, titled “Options to Finance Medicare-For-All,” Sanders’ federal wealth tax would establish an annual 1% levy on net worth exceeding $21 million. (For a family with $21.5 million in assets, that would mean paying a 1% tax on $500,000, or $5,000. For the wealthiest man in the United States, Bill Gates, whose net worth is speculated to be valued around $86 billion, the annual 1% tax would likely apply to all but a sliver of his net assets, and potentially total hundreds of millions of dollars.)
In the white paper, Sanders claims that a tax on net worth would raise $1.3 trillion in 10 years. Implementing a federal wealth tax is untested and would involve complexities. Sanders officials said the IRS could be responsible for assessing net worth annually. The Treasury Department could handle items not easily appraised, using average appreciation rates and appraisals every 5 years instead of one.
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There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.