Income Surtax

An income surtax, as proposed by EWC,  is an additional 10% tax imposed on the income of joint taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes above $2 million.

Currently, the top income tax rate is 37%, while the top rate for capital gains and dividend income is roughly 23%. For those in the surtax bracket, their top rates on income above $2 million would be 47% for ordinary income and 33% for capital gains and dividend income.

This surtax, EWC’s Multimillionaire Surtax, would not only slow down the accumulation of wealth by the ultra-rich, but over a 10-year timeframe raise $1.5 trillion. A version of this surtax, the Millionaires Surtax (it imposes the surtax on joint filers above $2 million, but for individual taypayers at $1 million) has been introduced by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-Virginia).