A national wealth tax has gone nowhere. Now some states want to tax the ultra-rich

The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans have seen their fortunes grow 19 times faster than the bottom half of the population during the last decade, according to a report released this week from anti-poverty charity Oxfam and other groups. One reason the rich are able to grow their wealth faster than others is partly due to differences in taxation, with capital gains—income from investments—taxed at a lower rate than earned income.

“Today we are here to put billionaires and multimillionaires on notice: They will pay what they owe,” said Noel Frame, a state senator in Washington, on a Zoom call to discuss the multistate effort.

The states that are introducing bills to tax the rich are California, Connecticut, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York and Washington. Each state has its own approach for taxing the rich, but typically the strategies include taxing assets as well as lowering the threshold for estate taxes.