In Democrats’ latest effort to find a way to extract more revenue from America’s wealthiest, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has proposed taxing them annually on assets they haven’t sold.
It’s a complex plan bound to hit legal roadblocks and create logistical headaches.
Fortunately, there’s a sounder idea for targeting the more than $5 trillion America's billionaires have earned yet have paid relatively little in taxes on. It’s based on a plan that was part of President Joe Biden’s revenue proposals earlier this year: Instead of taxing the wealthiest each year, as Wyden would do, Biden’s original plan would tax them upon their death.