Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., discusses Bernie Sanders’ push for a state billionaires tax, explains how it’s driving wealth out of California and more on “The Bottom Line.”
Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich are escalating their attacks on America’s wealthiest individuals, accusing the “billionaire class” of suffering from an “addiction” to greed as they push aggressive new tax increases in solidly Democratic states like California and New York.
“Governors Hochul and Newsom: Don’t worry about raising taxes on the wealthy. It’s true that a few wealthy people will leave New York or California if taxes on them are raised, but the evidence is that the vast majority will stay put,” Reich said. wrote in a Substack post on Wednesday.
“Never before in American history have we seen the kind of greed, arrogance and moral turpitude on the part of the ruling class that we see today,” Sanders said Wednesday evening from a stage in Los Angeles, where the senator spoke in support of California’s proposed wealth tax.
“These people are suffering from an addiction problem,” Sanders continued. “You know what the biggest addiction crisis in America is today? It’s the greed of the billionaire class. For these people, enough is never enough. They are committed to accumulating more and more wealth.”
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Both California and New York are embroiled in their own tax debates: A proposal backed by the Service Employees International Union and United Healthcare Workers West would a one-off tax of 5% on the net worth of California residents worth more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued an ultimatum for the state to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy or face a “last resort” hike in property taxes by 9.5% to close a $5.4 billion deficit.
Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich have been outspoken about the proposed wealth taxes. (Getty Images)
California Governor Gavin Newsom has publicly opposed the tax proposal, while New York Governor Kathy Hochul remains reluctant. Reich claimed that the “kindest” reasoning behind their opposition is due to the fear that wealthy taxpayers will leave – but the “unfriendly” reason “is that they are in the pockets of the rich.”
“When New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg faced a budget deficit in his first term, he raised property taxes by 18.5 percent. Wealthy New Yorkers threatened to leave. Most did not,” Reich wrote. “When Massachusetts passed the ‘millionaires tax’ in 2022, wealthy Bay State residents threatened to leave. They didn’t. Instead, the state has collected $5.7 billion in additional revenue while the number of millionaires in the state has grown, a People’s Policy Project study shows.”
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“Why do the rich stay where they are even as their taxes are raised? Because they are rich! They can afford to stay… The super-rich of New York and California are richer than they have ever been; the wealth they have amassed is greater than any group of Americans has ever possessed; they don’t know what to do with all their money. The taxes they would pay under the proposed proposals are infinitesimally small, almost rounding errors, compared to their fortunes,” the former Secretary of Labor said. added.
Sanders described California’s tax landscape as more of a moral battle.
“The CEOs of major profitable companies now make 350 times more than the average worker… Last year alone… America’s 938 billionaires became $1.5 trillion richer. I heard there was a march somewhere here in California to worry about the fate of the billionaires. Well, I don’t think our hearts are out of line,” Sanders said.
‘The richest people in this country are doing incredibly well the working class America isn’t going anywhere,” he continued. “The whole concept of taxing billionaires is more than economics, and it’s more than tax policy… They see themselves as something separate and distinct, just like the oligarchs.”
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Ultimately, Reich asks: Is California really that much worse off without Zuckerberg, Thiel, Page and others?
“Perhaps raising taxes on the super-rich will not only raise much-needed tax revenue, but also act as a kind of disinfectant, cleansing a city or state of some of its most harmful and socially irresponsible residents,” Reich wrote. “Another reason to do this!”
