Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Soak-the-Rich Taxes Are Unethical and Unwise

Progressive taxation is equitable if intended to raise government revenue. But it’s wrong to use it as a punitive weapon.

November 20, 2019 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Michael R. Strain

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

That would be wrong.
Source: LMPC via Geltty Images

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For $25, you can head over to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign website and purchase a “billionaire tears” coffee mug. Designed to commemorate an incident from earlier this month when billionaire Leon Cooperman, as described on Warren’s website, “was brought to tears on live television while discussing the prospect that a President Elizabeth Warren might require him to pay his fair share in taxes,” the website suggests using the mug to enjoy “a warm, slightly salty beverage.”

So perhaps everyone can agree that Warren’s proposal to tax wealth as well as income really is part of an effort to divide the nation by financial class.