This year on Tax Day, for the first time in decades, America’s wealthiest have some genuine reason to worry: The bargain-basement tax rates they’ve enjoyed for over a generation may be on the way out.
That prospect would have seemed ridiculously remote just a year ago. The recently passed GOP tax cut had knocked the top tax rate on personal income down to 37 percent, and new loopholes knocked the actual rate the rich paid considerably lower.
But then, this year, everything changed.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dared to suggest a near-doubling of the top tax rate, to 70 percent on income over $10 million. Inside the Beltway, jaws dropped. Outside, Americans cheered. Pollsters found solid majorities supporting the hike.
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