Politics

In any case, the Post has been pulling out all the stops when it comes to the wealth tax. They’ve run no less than 10 opinion pieces since March arguing against state and federal taxes on wealth and unrealized income—the “paper” gains that constitute the vast majority of the income of the richest Americans. The fact that the IRS can’t touch that income is how Bezos, according to ProPublica, managed to pay a true income tax rate of less than 1 percent from 2014 to 2018.

Here’s the Post’s recent lineup:

• March 2: “Bernie Sanders’s 2028 litmus test would strangle America’s golden goose” (Editorial board)
• March 8: “The myth of the billionaire wealth tax” (Megan McCardle)
• April 17: “This tax would rain a wealth of unintended consequences” (George Will)
• June 5: “The ‘buy, borrow, die’ myth” (Editorial board)
• June 27: “Gavin Newsom’s wealth tax two-step” (Editorial board)
• July 3: “Lower inequality does not guarantee better democracy” (Editorial board)
• July 16: “Socialists think wealth is stolen. They’re wrong.” (Marian L. Tupy, Cato Institute)
• July 21: “‘It should be laughed out of the room’: Four writers on midterm ballot measures” (Megan McCardle, again)
• July 19: “Medicare-for-all means taxes-for-all” (Editorial board)
• July 23: “I’m from Nebraska. Here’s what wealth-tax advocates don’t realize.” (Ben Nelson, former US senator; senior adviser for Saving America’s Family Enterprises)