Billionaire wealth tax plan could be shattered by $14K court case
Democratic dreams of imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans risk being snuffed out by the Supreme Court in a dispute over a $14,729 bill.
Calls to tax assets in addition to income have grown since Sen.r Elizabeth Warren ran for the White House on the issue in 2020, with President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget requesting a “billionaire minimum tax” to ease the federal deficit. But in a case set for argument Tuesday, the justices will consider whether the Constitution effectively precludes Congress from putting a levy on stock holdings, real estate and other wealth.
“The case literally could involve trillions of dollars and directly affect the way our economic and tax systems work because it calls on the court to decide whether a wealth tax might be constitutional,” said John Yoo, a University of California at Berkeley law professor who helped draft a brief in the case for the anti-tax group FreedomWorks.
The court’s decision to take up the case puts the justices in the middle of the partisan battle over the nation’s tax and budget policies. The court is likely to rule next year in the middle of the presidential election campaign.
The case stems from a 2017 tax law provision that aimed to collect hundreds of billions of dollars on earnings accumulated and held overseas by big multinational companies. The provision, known as the mandatory repatriation tax, was part of a Republican-backed tax overhaul passed during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Taxpayers Charles and Kathleen Moore are seeking a refund of the $14,729 in taxes they paid on their ownership of a stake in KisanKraft Machine Tools Private Ltd., an Indian company that supplies tools and equipment to farmers.
The Moores invested $40,000 almost two decades ago,
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