Wyden seeks to ensure wealthy pay fair share of taxes

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Tuesday that he is developing a “mark-to-market” approach to eliminate a host of loopholes and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.

Wyden said he will soon release a detailed white paper outlining how the gains on assets owned by millionaires and billionaires would be taxed annually:

“There are two tax codes in America. The first is for nurses, police officers and factory workers — those who earn wages and pay taxes with every paycheck. The second is for millionaires and billionaires — those who use their wealth to build more wealth, paying what they want, when they want.

“Everyone needs to pay their fair share and the best approach to achieving that goal is a mark-to-market system that would require the wealthy to pay taxes on their gains every year at the same rates all other income is taxed. This eliminates serious loopholes that allow some to pay a lower rate than wage earners, to delay their taxes indefinitely, and in some cases, to avoid paying tax at all.

“Just increasing the top tax rates leaves loopholes in place that savvy accountants and lawyers exploit. In contrast, taxing the annual gains generated by wealth closes a host of loopholes while raising the sort of revenue needed to keep Social Security and Medicare secure for years to come.

“We’ll never address income inequality or meet our country’s pressing needs unless we reform the tax code to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share, and I am releasing a plan detailing the structure of this new system in the coming weeks,” Wyden said.