Eliminate Federal Taxes for the 99.9%
An Equitable Tax Reform Bill for an Impending Political Crisis
It has been eight months since Trump has wielded a wrecking ball against our democracy and economy, and still congressional Democrats have failed to articulate a resonant political message that might return them from the wilderness of political irrelevance.
Federal funding runs-out on September 30th. This impending government shutdown provides Democrats with a political crisis and, potentially, political capital they could use to show Americans they deserve the chance to repair our democracy and economy.
America’s tax system is manifestly unfair: the wealthiest Americans pay a lower effective tax rate than their employees. According to ProPublica, the billionaires Buffett, Bezos, Bloomberg, and Musk respectively paid a true tax rate of 0.1%, 1%, 1.3% and 3.3%, while the average American pays about 16% and those in the highest tax bracket could pay as much as 37%.
An Equitable Tax Reform Bill
The Democrats should use the impending political crises as an opportunity to propose a much simplified and equitable tax structure by introducing the Equitable Tax Reform Bill, which would have three components:
- eliminate federal income and payroll taxes for people whose net wealth is less than $50,000,000 (99.9% of Americans)
- abolish all federal tax deductions (which would be irrelevant to the 99.9% as they’ll pay no federal taxes)
- establish a single net wealth tax bracket of 30% that applies to households with net wealth above $50 million, the richest 0.1%.
According to Federal Reserve data, households with net worth above $50 million own more than $23 trillion in assets. A 30% annual tax on that wealth would raise roughly $6.9 trillion (30% of $23 T) in the first year. This exceeds the $4.9 trillion in 2024 federal receipts, per US Treasury data, and more than offsets the lost federal revenue that would occur as a result of eliminating taxes on the 99.9%.
A Plan for September 30th’s Impending Political Crisis
Unless Senate Republicans abolish the filibuster, passage of a federal funding bill, which must occur no later than September 30, will require 60 votes, all 53 Republicans and at least 7 Democrats. Democrats should make it clear that they will support the Republicans’ federal funding bill only if their Equitable Tax Reform Bill is an inseparable component of the federal funding package.
If the Senate Republicans refuse, the government shutdown will fall predominantly on the shoulders of the GOP, and the Democrats will have demonstrated that the Republicans continue to do the bidding of America’s wealthiest 0.1%.
Roadblocks
Some critics will argue that a wealth tax is unconstitutional. The first two components are clearly constitutional. If the Court strikes it down, it will be siding with the 0.1%. And Republicans will own that fallout.
Some critics will say the plan is unfair to the wealthy, blithely ignoring the real injustice – teachers and middle-class Americans paying a higher tax rate than the wealthiest 0.1%.
Some will say the Equitable Tax Reform Bill is politically unrealistic; when the truth is that a democracy that tolerates such inequity is unsustainable.
Even if this bill never becomes law, it exposes the real divide in American politics. The fight is no longer left versus right — it’s the many versus the money.
America was a democracy. It can be again. This plan makes the choice unmistakable: a government for the many, or a government by the 0.1%.
Hayward Zwerling
6 September 2025
For a variation on this tax plan, see: Tax Billionaires’ Wealth – Free the 95%