Finally, Democrats—of All Stripes—Are Coming After the Wealthy’s Money

Everywhere you look, Democrats are trying to raise taxes on the super-rich. It’s the right economic policy—but more than that, it’s the right democracy policy.

The state of Washington is on the verge of enacting a 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million. Rhode Island’s governor has proposed a 3 percent tax on income above that same level. Lawmakers in New York state are advancing a 0.5 percent tax on income over $5 million. Liberal groups in California and Michigan are pushing for ballot initiatives that would raise taxes on the super-rich in their states. In Washington, D.C., Senators Cory Booker, Ed Markey, Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen have all recently rolled out proposals to drastically increase taxes on the rich across the country.

It’s soak-the-rich time. Presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden all raised taxes on the rich, so this isn’t new for Democrats. But there are three important shifts happening. First of all, Democrats at the state level are aggressively pushing tax hikes, ignoring perennial threats from the wealthy that they will move to other states if their taxes go up. Secondly, Democrats are no longer framing their tax increases on the wealthy solely as measures to fund programs for average Americans. They are leaning into populist rhetoric, arguing America’s super-wealthy simply have too much money and taking some of that away is a public good on its own. Third, the federal proposals are bigger and more comprehensive than before, attempting to tax all the myriad ways the super-rich earn and save money.

This is a great and long overdue direction for the Democratic Party to go in.

“Billionaires are hoarding their........

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