Friday, May 24, 2019

Tax the .1%


Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax could be carried out with the help of private insurance. 

According to Senator Warren’s website:  “The Ultra-Millionaire Tax taxes the wealth of the richest Americans. It applies only to households with a net worth of $50 million or more—roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households, or the top 0.1%. . . . All assets are included in the net worth calculation . . . .”

The Ultra-Millionaire Tax would add in to a net worth calculation, personal property, including tangible personal property, with a value of $50,000 or more.  Most people with valuable tangible assets, such as artwork, certain home furnishings, motor vehicles, boats, jewelry, collectibles such as coins and stamps, etc. insure the assets.

Therefore, the Ultra-Millionaire Tax could require that an Annual Valuation Schedule of insured tangible personal property with a value of $50,000 or more be submitted to insurance companies.  Insurance companies would be relieved from paying claims for personal property with a value of $50,000 or more not listed on the schedule or for claims in excess of the valuation listed on the schedule.

Insurance companies would file a copy of the Annual Valuation Schedule with the Internal Revenue Service which would be responsible for collecting the Ultra-Millionaire Tax.

This reporting duty to be imposed on insurance companies is similar to the duty imposed on employers who, not only report the amounts of wages, federal income tax withheld, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld, but also collect these taxes and send the money to the IRS.