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Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Labor Secretary 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 hikes in solidly Democratic states like California and New York.
“Governors Hochul and Newsom: Don’t worry about raising taxes on the rich. True, a few rich people may abandon New York or California if taxes on them are raised, but evidence suggests the vast majority will stay put,” Reich wrote in a Substack post on Wednesday.
“Never before in American history have we seen the kind of greed and arrogance and moral turpitude on the part of the ruling class that we see today,” Sanders said Wednesday evening on a Los Angeles stage, where the senator was speaking in support of California’s proposed wealth tax.
“These people suffer from an addiction problem,” Sanders continued. “Do you know what the most significant addiction crisis in America is today? It is the greed of the billionaire class. For these people, enough is never enough. They are dedicated 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–United Healthcare Workers West would impose a one-time 5% tax 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 tax the ultra-wealthy or face a “last resort” 9.5% property tax hike to plug a $5.4 billion deficit.
The threat of higher taxes has resulted in numerous high-net-worth public figures fleeing — sometimes with their businesses — to lower-tax states like Florida and Texas, Fox News Digital has previously reported.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has publicly opposed the tax proposition, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul remains reluctant. Reich claimed the “kindest” reasoning behind their opposition is due to fears of wealthy taxpayers leaving — but the “unkind” reason “is that they’re in the pockets of said rich.”
“When billionaire New York mayor Mike Bloomberg faced a budget deficit in his first term, he raised property taxes by 18.5 percent. Rich New Yorkers threatened to leave. Most did not,” Reich wrote. “When Massachusetts passed its ‘millionaire’s tax’ in 2022, rich residents of the Bay State 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, according to a study by People’s Policy Project.”
“Why are the rich staying put, even though their taxes are being raised? Because they’re rich! They can afford to stay put… New York’s and California’s super-rich are richer than they’ve ever been; the wealth they’ve amassed is larger 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 proposals put forward are infinitesimally small, almost rounding errors, compared to their fortunes,” the former labor secretary added.
Sanders framed California’s tax landscape as more of a moral battle.
“The CEOs of large profitable corporations now make 350 times more than the average worker… Last year alone… the 938 billionaires in America became $1.5 trillion richer. I heard that there was a march here in California somewhere worrying about the plight of the billionaires. Well, I don’t think our hearts are going to go out too far,” Sanders said.
“The richest people in this country are doing unbelievably well. While the working class in America is going nowhere in a hurry,” he continued. “The whole concept of the tax on billionaires is more than economics, and it is more than tax policy… They see themselves as something separate and apart, like the oligarchs.”
Reich ultimately asks: Is California really that much worse off without Zuckerberg, Thiel, Page and others?
“Maybe raising taxes on the super-rich not only provides critically-needed tax revenue but also acts as a kind of disinfectant, purging a city or state of a few of its most noxious and socially-irresponsible inhabitants,” Reich wrote. “Another reason to do so!”
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