COVID-19 Is The Best Argument Yet For a Wealth Tax

Amid a historic crisis, billionaires are keeping their money to themselves.

By Michael Hobbes

03/26/2020


The coronavirus pandemic is the perfect opportunity for billionaires to justify their existence.

For years, wealthy Americans have argued that philanthropy was essential to a functioning society. In contrast to unwieldy, inefficient government programs, private donors have the ability to take swift action and deliver social impact free of bureaucracy.

“My wife and I set up a foundation about 20 years ago,” computer magnate Michael Dell said last year in response to a Democratic proposal to enact a wealth tax. “I feel much more comfortable with our ability as a private donation to allocate those funds than I do giving them to the government.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz made the same case, arguing that taxing wealth robs billionaires of their capacity to invest in private and public innovation. Philanthropy, Bill Gates said when asked about a wealth tax at The New York Times’ Dealbook conference last year, “plays a role that neither the private sector or the government is able to do.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-wealth-tax-billionaires_n_5e7cc0cfc5b6256a7a260ebb?14&guccounter=1