Professor calls to tax the rich at 80 percent

well today is tax day the day in which you and more than a hundred million other Americans ritually provide the federal government with ten twenty or even thirty percent of your income maybe forty or higher to finance our vast federal bureaucracy and various bombing campaigns around the world most people hate tax day but Carolyne Heldman is a big fan it's hard to find him but we did she's a political science professor at Occidental College out in California and she loves tax day so much she wants to expand it big ly she's called for upping the top tax bracket in America to 80 percent or more professor Heldman joins us tonight professor thanks for coming on thanks Tucker so I just want to get to motive here for a second do you want the tax rate to go up to pay for more stuff or as a way to punish rich people well neither of those things and let's be clear I'm not talking about taxes for your viewers I'm talking about taxes for the top one percent and I'm not even talking about all of their income I'm talking about the marginal tax rate the highest rate which right now is set at four hundred and seventy thousand dollars I'm talking about wealthy individuals who on four hundred and seventy thousand plus would be taxed at a much higher rate than they are now and in fact historically for example under Eisenhower and JFK they were taxed at ninety-one percent now they're taxed at less than forty percent and this has meant that we've scrimped on the social safety net we scrimped on education there are lots of things that this money could go for we spend more than those that almost anyone else in the world but so but it's a quick answer my question I mean it's a it you want to buy more stuff it's not just because you object to the existence of rich people you're not trying to hurt them you just want to pay for more stuff well I don't think rich people are held at the same standards as other taxpayers so I think that there are loopholes and their armies of lawyers and estate planners that allow them to hide their wealth I would like to see that money go into the economy I mean taxes are the price we pay for civilization I would love to see you know free higher education I would love to see our infrastructure crumbling infrastructure system funded in the United States are a lot of things that this money could go for right if you know wealthy people were fairly taxed and they're they just aren't so you're from an affluent family what does your mom think of this my parents my family gives a lot in philanthropy just as I do I'm not on the top 1% but you know we are people who practice what we preach and that means that you give a lot of money away in terms of nonprofits I also use tipping of servers as a mechanism for reading I'm confused okay no but I'm for all those things I'm for free and I'm especially for tipping waiters I agree with you a hundred percent on that and so god bless you buddy okay but you're asking other people to give their money to the government why aren't you giving 70 percent of your income to the government you could well I'm not on the top 1% but I have no issues well that's the argument I'm making right that it's not about working-class Americans or people like me who are upper income Americans it's about really the wealthiest top 1% now sure when you're at college hangtime not a - I'm not on you by the way about 30% I know you're gonna say 7 1 up to 70% I don't understand like what's holding you back you know what I conquer it you know you know what's holding me back if you if I knew how to do that I would have no issue doing that but the catch is instead of the drama so it's totally no no trust me let me simplify it for you just write a check pay your taxes then figure out what you paste 30% you said to figure out what other 40 percent of your income if you just send it to the US Treasury Washington DC knows if code I wonder what I can you tuck her you know what I do instead of that because we don't know your system of Taxation I write checks to nonprofits that are providing services that the government should be providing okay so my write checks to Planned Parenthood I write checks to nonprofits that serve that provide a safety net maybe marrying it or do it have you running like that I think you know but it doesn't actually so why not pass a law requiring people to send money to charity - the more effective for the government welcome you to your base that would be leading that would be great to do as my daughter ones not the most efficient way to don't lift up the poor then why won't he says well you know then Tucker I would say this train wreck of a Trump government is certainly not the best way to serve the poor's if they have no interest in serving the poor but in general I think government does a fine job providing the services what it is asking you to practice what you preach all this let's do another question here I do practice wedding well you know I am going for another night of the government you're not so like I cover the top 1% no no no no no Tucker don't she don't put words in my mouth I am telling the top 1% I'm saying the government needs to tax them fairly if we're going to talk about taxation I actually think I'm taxed pretty fairly I choose to spend way more than the majority of my income on other people I choose to production having got me dressed we're talking about course about talk about you you don't want it awful soccer no you don't get to do this you don't get to lie you don't get no Tucker you don't get to put words in my mouth we're talking there's a note on % professor you're noting you're noting the obvious I'm not on the top 1% it's not an argument about me not you oh yeah yes that is the argument proposing it let me ask you one quick question though I understand it but there's no tax right on the top wealthy there's a real point I think about accumulation of wealth at the top it's probably not good for society I bet we agree on that it's not it's not about income it's not about your income taxes it's about capital gains taxes taxes on investment on capital that is working that's what will get rich nobody's making a billion dollars from salary are you suggesting raising the capital gains tax rate to 70% - I am suggesting raising the capital gains tax on the wealthiest 1% I am - working raising the income tax why you know economists say somewhere around 50 percent would be good income tax you can go as high as 83% and it won't suppress wealth personally why would you want to so I would like with any happen while you're giving it pass to enrich investors I don't understand is why you're checking working people the wealthiest 1% I would like to tax on the higher rates across the board on their salary on their investments and also on what they're passing to the future future generations I want to see the death tax go up I want to see all of it go up because right now the top 1% do not pay their fair share we gotta go but call me when you start sending all your money to the government and then I'll fall oh oh please I'll call you when I'm on the top 1% how's that Tucker perfect we'll have lunch thanks professor

Channel: Fox News

Views: 1,990,058

Rating: 4.7248082 out of 5

Keywords: Tucker Carlson, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Economy, Taxes, National Interest, On Air, Opinion, Personality, Primary US, US, Fox News, News

Id: keZu9_Lbne4

Length: 6min 21sec (381 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 18 2017