The OLIGARCH Act Could Help Fund Civil Society

A group of lawmakers have proposed the “Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms  (Oligarch) Act,” designed to impose a wealth tax on American Oligarchs to stem growing wealth inequality.  I would make just one friendly amendment.  Just to blunt one objection, namely that government does not know better how to spend taxpayer dollars to affect social change than grassroot citizens.  The tax collected should be segregated and used exclusively to fund grants to charitable organizations and nurture civil society.  Just a thought.  Here is the first page of the summary memo:

Here is a brief media excerpt:

According to a summary of the bill released by the Patriotic Millionaires — an advocacy group that helped craft the measure — the wealth tax would have four brackets:

• • 2% for all wealth between 1,000 and 10,000 times median household wealth;
  • 4% for all wealth between 10,000 and 100,000 times median household wealth;
  • 6% for all wealth between 100,000 and 1,000,000 times median household wealth; and

8% for all wealth over 1,000,000 times median household wealth;

And here are a few more excerpts from the summary:

Why is the OLIGARCH Act important?

There comes a point when extreme wealth is, by definition, extreme power. We have reached that point. Concentrated wealth is suffocating our democracy, threatening our economic system, and undermining our social cohesion. A government that works only for billionaires while ordinary Americans suffer cannot withstand authoritarian forces and extremists.

It is time for America to make its choice: extreme wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or a powerful capitalist democracy?

Who supports the OLIGARCH ACT?

The OLIGARCH Act has been endorsed by: Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), Americans For Tax Fairness, American Family Voices, Center for Popular Democracy, Coalition on Human Needs, Demand Progress, Economic Policy Institute, HedgeClippers, Institute for Policy Studies-Program on Inequality, Main Street Alliance, MoveOn, Our Revolution, Oxfam, People’s Action, Patriotic Millionaires, Progressive Democrats of America, Responsible Wealth Project of United for a Fair Economy, Social Security Works, Strong Economy for All Coalition, Take on Wall Street, and Unrig Our Economy.

Even if it ever got into or out of committee, the act would still need to survive Moore v. United States, where taxpayers are challenging the constitutionality of a wealth tax.  

darryll k. jones