Billionaire investor Ron Baron told CNBC on Tuesday he’s ardently against implementing a wealth tax.
“I hate the wealth-tax idea,” the founder of Baron Capital and lifelong Democrat said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “If you want to start taxes on people with high incomes, that’s OK,” he added. “But the wealth tax I think is an awful idea.”
Proposals for a wealth tax have been a key focus for some Democratic presidential hopefuls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren specifically has made cracking down on banks and taxing the rich central to her bid for the White House.
Warren’s plan calls for a 2% tax on families’ net worth above $50 million and a 6% tax on household net worth over $1 billion. The wealth tax proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, would be progressive, starting at 1% for household net worth of more than $32 million and ending at 8% on wealth over $10 billion.
Baron in the past has expressed his disdain for a wealth tax. Last year, Baron suggested a value-added tax instead, which has been adopted in many European countries and puts levies on goods and services during each stage of production and sale.
Entrepreneur and Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is proposing a 10% VAT, targeting companies such as Amazon and Alphabet.
Billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have also said for a long time that taxes should go up on the wealthy.