Ep. 399: Will Wealth Tax Wreck the Economy?

Ep. 399: Will Wealth Tax Wreck the Economy?

From InfluenceWatch Podcast by Capital Research Center

March 10, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 403

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of a federal wealth tax and its potential impact on the economy and philanthropy.

You may have seen news reports that California is facing something called “outmigration,” in which residents – including some of that state’s most wealthy – are picking up and moving to greener pastures in states not dedicated to taxing them to death. California’s billionaires are most recently eyeing a ballot measure to be voted on this November that would essentially serve as a 5% excise tax for the crime of being billionaires. This has led to many of the state’s prominent entrepreneurs like Google’s Sergey Brin, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Paypal’s Peter Thiel to make their objections known with their feet and their moving trucks. But what if a federal wealth tax were imposed, like the one recently introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, and there was nowhere to run? And, given how much these individuals give to philanthropy – for better or worse – what would happen to that giving if Sanders and Khanna were to succeed? Joining us to discuss is Andrew Wilford, Director of State Policy at the National Taxpayer Union Foundation, who has been writing about the possible calamities surrounding a wealth tax for many years. California Wealth Tax Proposal Achieves a New…

People in this episode

Guest: Andrew Wilford

Topics covered

  • wealth tax
  • California
  • outmigration
  • philanthropy
  • economy

Keywords

  • billionaires
  • tax policy
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders
  • Rep. Ro Khanna

Mentioned in this episode

Places: California

More episodes of InfluenceWatch Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the InfluenceWatch Podcast podcast page.