Former President Donald Trump released a statement on lambasting Democrats' proposed billionaire's tax and said it would leave the country 'high and dry' on Wednesday.
The Republican, estimated to be a billionaire himself, suggested he'd leave the United States to avoid paying the penalty but then said he'd 'stick it out.'
Democrats put details of their new tax proposal forward early on Wednesday as a way to pay for President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda. It was quickly derailed by bipartisan concerns and questions over the plan's constitutionality.
'What country will be the primary beneficiary from a “Billionaires Tax,” or Wealth Tax? Where will wealthy people and companies move to, leaving the United States high and dry?' Trump said in an emailed statement.
'Most don’t need to be in the U.S. anyway. I know all of those very smartly run countries, and they are all thrilled by what the Radical Left maniacs are doing in Congress.
'I just wonder, will I be allowed to run for president again if I move to another country? No, I guess I’ll just stick it out, but most others won’t!'
Trump's net worth was estimated by Forbes to be about $2.5 billion
He released a statement on Wednesday bashing Democrats' proposed 'billionaire's tax'
The billionaire's tax is a proposal that would tax the ultra wealthy on the year-to-year value certain assets gain, while currently they only have to pay penalties at the time of sale.
Millionaires and billionaires generally borrow money against these assets to build more wealth while keeping their taxable finances low.
The proposed tax would have hit the gains of those with more than $1 billion in assets or incomes of more than $100 million a year. The rate would align with the capital gains rate, now 23.8 percent.
When Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released the plan he estimated it would affect 700 of America's most wealthy taxpayers and bring in as much as $250 billion.
But even before the details were released, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell lambasted the billionaire's tax as a 'harebrained scheme' in remarks on the Senate floor Monday.
On Wednesday Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he told Wyden the billionaires' tax may be more difficult to implement than the route his panel took in simply raising rates on corporations and the wealthy.
Democrats put it forward as a way to pay for Joe Biden's Build Back Better spending plan
It was finally scrapped after objections from Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have been chipping away at Biden's progressive-backed Build Back Better bill.
Since negotiations with the two holdouts began the measure's price tag has been slashed from $3.5 trillion to possibly around $1.75 trillion. It's not clear yet which reforms will be cut, but free community college and paid family and medical leave have been rumored to be on the chopping block.
The billionaires' tax proposal had been designed to win over Sinema - but Manchin panned it as unfairly targeting the wealthy, leaving Democrats at odds.
'People in the stratosphere, rather than trying to penalize, we ought to be pleased that this country is able to produce the wealth,' Manchin told reporters.
