Politics

Warren’s Wealth Tax Could Drive Billionaires to Funds She Hates

  • Funding Medicare for All would include 6% levy on very wealthy
  • Plan may push money to private equity firms that she attacked
Why Warren’s Wealth Tax Could Push Billionaires Into Private Equity
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Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax could be a gift to an industry she has accused of looting Americans -- private equity.

The Democratic presidential hopeful’s plan to fund Medicare for All, denounced by prominent rich people like Bill Gates, hinges on a 6% annual levy on accumulated wealth in excess of $1 billion. One of the few ways for the extremely wealthy to preserve capital if such a tax were enacted would be putting their money into so-called alternative assets managed by firms such as Blackstone Group Inc., Carlyle Group LP and KKR & Co.