Sanders calls for higher estate tax on wealthy

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill that would increase the estate tax on millionaires and billionaires.

Sanders has been an ardent critic of the growing wealth inequality in the United States. 

{mosads}“A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much while so many have so little,” Sanders said earlier this month. “We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes and which reduces the obscene degree of wealth inequality in America.”

He said his bill would raise taxes on only 0.25 percent of the population.

S. 2899 would increase the tax rate to 40 percent on estates worth $3.5 million to $10 million, 50 percent on estates worth $10 million to $50 million and 55 percent on estates worth more than $50 million. 

His bill would also create a 10 percent surtax on estates worth more than $1 billion and eliminate any federal tax on an inheritance of $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples.

Sanders likes to point out that the Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, has more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of Americans, and says wealth inequality is one of the major issues facing the country.

Sanders introduced the bill before the Senate adjourned last week for the midterm elections.