Joe Manchin Reluctant To Support Billionaires Tax, Proposes 15% 'Patriotic' Tax

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., on Wednesday expressed reluctance to support a billionaires tax that would pay for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

The proposed tax was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. It would affect 700 Americans with $1 billion in assets or those who earn $100 million a year by imposing a 23.8% tax rate for long-term capital gains tradeable investments that can be spread out over a five-year period. Those who are subjected to the proposed tax would have to pay an annual income tax on unrealized income.

Top income earners would be required to give the IRS a detailed report on how much the assets they own gained or lost each year.

“We have a historic opportunity with the Billionaires Income Tax to restore fairness to our tax code, and fund critical investments in American families,” Wyden said in a statement.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called the proposal “a step in the right direction,” but acknowledged more needed to be done.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like the connotation that we’re targeting different people,” Manchin told reporters, adding that the wealthiest of Americans “bring a lot of jobs, invest a lot of money and give a lot to philanthropic pursuits.”

Rather than a wealth tax that would apply to billionaires, Manchin floated the idea of a 15% “Patriotic” tax on those who avoid paying taxes because they exploit loopholes in the tax code.

“We’ve all agreed on a 15 percent corporate tax. People in the stratosphere, rather than trying to penalize them, we ought to be pleased this country is able to produce the wealth. But with that, there’s a patriotic duty that you should be paying something to this great country to give you the protection and the support and the opportunities,” Manchin said.

Manchin's home state of West Virginia is home to one billionaire, Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican who accumulated his wealth from a coal mining business he inherited from his father. West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the country with a real per capita personal income of $42,082.