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Transcript/ScriptUS BILLIONAIRES’ TAX (TV)
HEADLINE: Biden Proposes Raising Taxes on Super Wealthy Americans
TEASER: Plan appears to have little congressional support but focuses attention on wealth inequality
PUBLISHED AT: 03/31/2021 at 6:30 pm
BYLINE: LAUREL BOWMAN
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, DC
VIDEOGRAPHER:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: newhouse, Bowman, Dj balance
VIDEO SOURCE (S):
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:35
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: ))
((WEB/TV INTRO))
[[In his newly released budget plan, U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed a 20 percent minimum tax on households with a net worth of more than 100 million dollars. The proposal won’t likely get the support it needs to become law this year, but it highlights the debate over what the government should do about the soaring fortunes of America’s wealthiest people. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more.]]
((NARRATOR))
One of the world’s richest women, MacKenzie Scott, has given away more than 12 billion dollars in the past two years, sending money to more than 12-hundred groups
focused on racial justice, climate change, education, abortion rights, relief for the war in Ukraine, human rights and others.
((For radio only: Erik Stegman is Executive Director of Native Americans in Philanthropy.))
((Erik Stegman, Executive Director/Native Americans in Philanthropy))
“We get to use this funding in the way that our communities and our stakeholders want us to use this funding in a strategic way, so we are excited.”
((NARRATOR))
The ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is more generous than her former husband, whose net worth is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The United States has the most billionaires in the world and so the question is often posed: with so much money out there, should US tax collectors get more of it?
President Joe Biden says yes.
((Joe Biden, US President))
"A firefighter and a teacher pay more than double, double the tax rate that a billionaire pays. That's not right. That's not fair, and my budget contains a billionaire minimum tax because of that. The 20% minimum tax rate applies only to the top one hundredth of one percent; one hundredth of one percent of the Americans will pay this tax.”
((NARRATOR))
Biden says billionaires currently pay an average of eight percent of their total income in taxes.
((For radio only: Chuck Marr is Vice President for Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He helps explain.))
((Chuck Marr, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities))
2:10 “We find that often the wealthiest people in the country can pay little or no income taxes. And that’s because their major source of income doesn’t count each year and that’s not the income they get from their salaries but from the growth in their assets.”
((NARRATOR))
Other experts say that rich people pay plenty when all forms of taxation are added up … as much as 32% of their incomes. And they give financially to the economy in other ways.
((For radio only: Chris Edwards is the Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.))
((Chris Edwards, Economist, CATO Institute))
6:54 “The vast majority of wealth of millionaires and billionaires is actually business ownership// 7:43 “Most of Jeff Bezos’s wealth is ownership in Amazon Corporation which hires over a million people a year now, so I don’t want Jeff Bezos paying more taxes and withdrawing the value from Amazon.”
((NARRATOR))
Biden says his billionaire tax would bring in 360 billion dollars in federal revenue. It’s not likely to pass the Senate this year, but proponents say a wave is building to impose a wealth tax, with clear majorities of Americans saying some of the country’s richest don’t pay their fair share.
((Laurel Bowman, VOA News, Washington))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)WASHINGTON, DC
Embargo DateMarch 31, 2022 17:42 EDT
BylineLaurel Bowman, VOA News, Washington
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
