Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is urging Democrats to avoid deal-making ahead of the 2025 tax fight and to stand firm on hiking taxes on the wealthy.
Americans can’t afford to have Democrats sign a compromise that lets wealthy taxpayers “off the hook,” Warren said in remarks Monday at an event hosted by The Washington Center for Equitable Growth.
The progressive mainstay and Senate Finance Committee member’s remarks come as lawmakers ramp up planning ahead of 2025, when much of the GOP’s 2017 tax law—which slashed individual tax rates, levies on inherited wealth, and corporate taxes—is set to expire. Without action before the end of next year, those cuts will revert back.
“Our tax code is now caught in a doom loop,” Warren said. “Tax loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations mean the rich keep more and more of their money.”
If Democrats show their willingness to tax large corporations and the wealthy to invest in programs like child care and historically Black colleges and universities, Democrats’ credibility will rise, the one time presidential candidate argued.
Democrats on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee are set to meet Thursday to start plotting strategy ahead of next year’s tax fight.
Warren, recalling a staple of her 2020 presidential campaign, also pushed for a 2% wealth tax on the richest Americans, citing both Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk by name. She said it would be better to let all of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire than be a part of “another slash-and-burn tax bonanza” for the wealthiest.
That stance puts her outside of President Joe Biden’s pledge to not allow tax cuts for those earning less than $400,000 to lapse.
In March, Warren brought back her legislation to tax the wealth of “ultra-millionaires.”
Individuals and groups skirting taxes should be feeling the threat from the IRS, which has more money to enforce the law from the tens of billions received from the Inflation Reduction Act, Warren said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Tax or Log In to keep reading:
Learn About Bloomberg Tax
From research to software to news, find what you need to stay ahead.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.