Elizabeth Warren has a blunt response to economists who say her wealth tax is a bad idea
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is always ready to shut down criticisms of her wealth tax proposal.
Warren was one of seven candidates on the stage for Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate and she was quickly faced with a question about her proposed wealth tax. Some economic models have suggested the taxes focused on the wealthiest Americans could end up hurting economic growth, but Warren used just three words to respond: "They're just wrong."
Warren has proposed a 2-percent annual tax on people who have more than $50 million in wealth, and a 3-percent tax on assets over $1 billion. The money raised would be used to fund Warren's Medicare-for-all proposal and to implement a Green New Deal, among other things.
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.
Economic models, such as one from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, have said the taxes would slow economic growth by a few tenths of a percentage point. Warren has since disputed that model's assumptions, as have other economists. Read columnist Jeff Spross' case for why Warren is right at The Week.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Pentagon unable to name boat strike casualtiesSpeed Read The Pentagon has so far acknowledged 14 strikes
-
41 political cartoons for October 2025Cartoons Editorial cartoonists take on Donald Trump, ICE, Stephen Miller, the government shutdown, a peace plan in the Middle East, Jeffrey Epstein, and more.
-
King Charles strips Andrew of ‘prince’ titleSpeed Read He will now be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
