Beware ‘Tax the Rich’

        Taylor Swift is enemy No.1 to cash-grabbing Democrats in Rhode Island. They’ve named their new statewide vacation home property tax after her.

        But from the East Coast to the West Coast, “tax the rich” is the battle cry of radical-left Democrats. They claim that by attacking the rich, including celebs like Swift, they’re saving democracy. Don’t be fooled.

        Their new forms of taxation — including wealth taxes, mansion taxes and pied-a-terre taxes — are fueled by jealousy and hatred for our free-market system, working people and everything American. You’re their next target.

        You may not consider yourself “rich,” but these new forms of taxation will eventually hit you if you live in a blue state.

        Swift paid a whopping $17.75 million for her Watch Hill, Rhode Island, pad back in 2013. But the tax starts on any vacation home worth over $1 million and occupied less than half the year. It went into effect at the end of July.

        “Tax the rich” is also building steam in Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and California.

        The official magazine of the Democratic Socialists of America announces that the fight to tax the rich will go on until “there is not a single state that is a safe haven.”

        Connecticut Democrats are ramming through a “mansion” tax, the first-ever statewide property tax, which will be levied annually on homes valued at over $3 million, whether they’re primary residences or not. That’s in addition to the sky-high local property taxes residents already pay. Democrats are united behind the radical new tax and have a veto-proof majority in both legislative houses to pass it whenever they choose.

        No one should assume that only the “rich” will be hit with the tax. When the state adopted an income tax in 1991, it was supposed to be temporary and had only one bracket. Thirty-five years later, it’s still in effect and has been expanded to seven brackets.

        Another blue enclave, Washington, D.C., is proposing a “mansion” tax on high-value residences — those valued at more than $2.5 million. Most of the revenue will come from three tiny but tony neighborhoods: Georgetown, Kalorama and Massachusetts Avenue Heights. Plenty of wealthy politicians will be hit, but Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, vocal advocates for wealth taxes, will unfortunately not be among them. They don’t live there.

        Mansion taxes are proxies for wealth taxes, but in November, Californians will vote on Proposition 40, which, if approved, will lead to the nation’s first tax on total net worth: the Billionaire Tax Act. It’s a “onetime” 5% tax on all forms of wealth, from homes and yachts to where the real money is: stocks, bonds and ownership interests in private companies.

        The bill says 90% of the revenue collected will go to support health care services for Californians, and health care unions are its biggest supporters.

        The “onetime” claim is preposterous because once health care services are funded, where do the unions and patients go when that spigot is turned off?

        The state Democratic Party endorses the tax, but Gov. and presidential wannabe Gavin Newsom does not. He pivoted instead to calling for a national wealth tax, warning that the passage of the Billionaire Tax Act will make more California billionaires head for the exits — following in the footsteps of Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

        Newsom joins a chorus of lefties, including Warren, Sanders and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, calling for a national wealth tax. They make the preposterous argument that “a well-functioning democracy” is threatened by the existence of billionaires.

        Nonsense. Billionaire former Gotham Mayor Mike Bloomberg blew through hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money seeking the presidency in 2020 and won support only from American Samoa. Money doesn’t guarantee political success. The Republican National Committee right now has about 10 times as much cash on hand as the Democratic National Committee, but the outcome of the November midterms is still a nail-biter.

        What is true is that democracy is threatened by dire poverty. People who are hungry will succumb more easily to the promises of a dictator. But poverty in the U.S. is half what it was in 1959, when the U.S. Census began measuring the number of Americans living below the poverty line.

        The leftwingers calling for wealth taxes aren’t telling you the truth — wealth taxes are economy killers, and workers are the victims.

        Only 2.7% of a billionaire’s wealth is in jewels, yachts, artwork, homes and other luxuries. Almost all of it is in business assets — stock and ownership interests that provide the capital for businesses to buy more efficient trucks, faster computers and more sophisticated equipment that increase worker productivity. Jeff Bezos’ $250 billion in wealth is mostly in Amazon. As Cato economists Adam Michel and Chris Edwards warn, taxing wealth takes capital out of these companies, limiting worker productivity gains and future wage growth. Ouch!

        Wake up, everyone. You’re the ones in the “tax the rich” crosshairs. Call out these leftwing demagogues for their lies. In Swift’s words, be “fearless.”

        Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and Chairman & Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths at www.hospitalinfection.org. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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