Equity Tax: Restoring Fairness In America’s Economy

Commentary by Arthur Piccolo

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Oct. 14, 2024: The headline story in the Wall Street Journal recently was “Kamala Harris Struggling to Break Through With Working Class, Democrats Fear.”This Presidential race should be over with Harris projected to win  an easy victory because her opponent is the terrible candidate, Donald Trump. But if the election was today, no one knows if Harris or Trump would win.

Democratic presidential nominee, Caribbean American Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University on October 13, 2024 in Greenville, North Carolina. With 22 days until the election, recent polls in North Carolina show Harris and her opponent Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump within just a point or two on average, which is also the case in the other six key battleground states. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

As the Wall Street Journal highlighted, Harris needs working class voters of every color who know they live in very unfair world and nation, with inequity increasing at ever faster pace.  The top one tenth of 1% of Americans own 20% of total wealth in America, while the poorest 50% – that is half of all Americans – together own just 2% of America’s wealth. This is a formula that ensures the American dream is dead for most Americans and that means nothing but decline and more bitterness in our nation’s future.

How about corporate wealth, the other powerful factor in inequality in America and another way of looking at middle class dissatisfaction? The 1% of the wealthiest American corporations own a staggering 50%  of corporate wealth in America. Do you think the millions of Americans who work for these corporations are happy? They are not.

What is the too frequent response at election time is they turn to a demagogue like Trump who talks in vague meaningless phrases while promising Americans he will make it all better without doing anything about wealth inequity in America – except making the super-rich individuals and corporations even richer than they are today!

So rather than Kamala playing “defense,” praying she will win much as Hilary Clinton did in 2016, Harris needs a BIG idea now!

An idea that will energize and have middle class and poorer Americans in a way they never thought possible – lining up to vote for Kamala and give her an overwhelming victory this November 5th. So far, she has no big ideas at all.

Harris needs what we all need – an Equity Tax for all the super-rich and huge corporations who avoid paying any tax on their enormous wealth. Elon Musk’s personal wealth is $256 BILLION. He pays virtually no tax on any of it because it is wealth not income. Musk’s effective federal tax rate in recent years is about 3%.  An American with an annual income of just $75,000 a year pays an effective federal tax rate of 12-15%.

The Equity Tax is simple: the wealthiest individuals and the most profitable corporations in the country would contribute a small percentage of their total wealth, not just their income, to the public good.

This is not about punishing success – it’s about ensuring that those who have benefited the most from America’s economic system contribute their fair share to help it thrive for everyone. Kamala should propose a 1% annual Equity Tax on the wealth of only the very richest American individuals and corporations.

We’re not talking about taxing anyone paycheck more, but the billions in assets and investments that remain untouched by traditional income taxes. Why should a factory worker in Michigan pay a higher percentage of their income than a billionaire in Silicon Valley ?  They should not.

The system is rigged, and the working class knows it. This is how to win their votes! Let’s make America work for everyone – not just the wealthy few.

So, Kamala, will you do something or just pray you win the election?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Arthur Piccolo is the President of the Bowling Green Association of New York and a frequent contributor to News Americas