MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, former GOP congressman, makes an impassioned case for taxing the super-rich

If redistributing wealth through tax policy is "socialism," former Florida Republican congressmember Joe Scarborough is fine with the label, he said on Tuesday's Morning Joe.
The House Ways and Means Committee released its tax plan Monday, part of the Democrats' $3.5 trillion (or less) spending package, proposing to raise $2.1 trillion over 10 years by raising the top income tax rate back to 39.6 percent, from 37 percent, and increasing taxes on profitable corporations, among other changes that "would overwhelmingly hit the richest 1 percent of Americans," The Washington Post says.
But, The New York Times reports, "the proposal, while substantial in scope, stopped well short of changes needed to dent the vast fortunes of tycoons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, or to thoroughly close the most egregious loopholes exploited by high-flying captains of finance," dispensing "with measures floated by the White House and Senate Democrats to tax wealth." Senior House Democrats chose this path, the Times reports, "to be more mindful of moderate concerns in their party." Scarborough suggested they were being mindful of lobbyists for the super-rich, and he urged Democrats to "do better" than this "lousy" tax plan.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Are moderates really concerned that" corporations like Amazon and Chevron "may actually have to pay millions of dollars in taxes? Because now they're paying zero," Scarborough said. "And billionaires are continuing to figure out how to pay little or nothing. Hedge fund titans are paying taxes at lower rates than their clerical employees and the people who chauffeur their Bentleys. You think that's demagoguery, that's populism? No, it's not. No, that's the fact."
"Everybody hates income redistribution, that makes you a socialist, doesn't it, if you're for a scheme that redistributes wealth?" Scarborough added. "Well, let me tell you something: In the world we've lived in over the past 40 years, there's been the largest income redistribution scam in American history, and it's been the middle class that's been looted while trillions keep flowing into the bank accounts of billionaires."
Plenty of congressional Democrats agree. "It would be a monumental mistake for Congress to pass a bill that really exempts billionaires," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Finance Committee. But Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) defended their plan as "the boldest common denominator" that can get 218 House votes and 50 Senate votes, adding, "What I don't want is another noble defeat."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
America's favorite fast food restaurants
The Explainer There are different ways of thinking about how Americans define how they most like to spend their money on burgers, tacos and fried chicken
-
Law: The battle over birthright citizenship
Feature Trump shifts his focus to nationwide injunctions after federal judges block his attempt to end birthright citizenship
-
The threat to the NIH
Feature The Trump administration plans drastic cuts to medical research. What are the ramifications?
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school
speed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump
speed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders
-
Judge scolds DOJ over Newark mayor arrest
speed read Ras Baraka was arrested during a May 9 surprise visit to a migrant detention facility
-
Trump lectures South Africa president on 'white genocide'
speed read Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over his demonstrably false genocide claims
-
Democrats are on the hunt for their own Joe Rogan
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Party leaders and mega-donors want to counter MAGA's online momentum by recreating a digital right-wing ecosystem for the left
-
Trump twists House GOP arms on megabill
speed read The bill will provide a $350 billion boost to military and anti-immigration spending and 'cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs'