Politics & Government
Greenwich Billionaire Ray Dalio Sounds Alarm On 70% Tax Rate
The founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates was interviewed at Davos by CNBC about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's suggested tax plan.
GREENWICH, CT — In the days since United States Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez floated the idea of a 70 percent marginal tax rate for Americans earning more than $10 million, both condemnation and praise for the plan has poured in from all sides. And to the discussion, add Greenwich billionaire Ray Dalio, founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.
In an interview with CNBC this week from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Dalio was quoted that such a move could have a chilling effect on markets and the overall economy. Additionally, those higher earners will likely seek ways of avoiding the tax by operating as a corporation instead of filing individually.
"How tax rates are changed will have a huge effect on incentives and could have a huge effect on capital flows, and that will have big effects on markets and economies," Dalio told CNBC, and those sentiments were echoed by many of the other wealthy participants at the global business event. "It's going to be a bigger market-influencing issue than people now realize."
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For her part, the outspoken Congresswoman turned to Twitter to challenge those sentiments, stressing that huge concentrations of wealth at the top has not helped many at the lower levels of the economic ladder.
MarketWatch writes that her proposal has support among a majority of voters, even about 45 percent of Repubulicans.
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It’s wild that some people are more scared of a marginal tax rate than the fact that 40% of Americans struggle to pay for at least one basic need, like food or rent. Imagine if we focused positively, away from fear of the former toward solving the latter.https://t.co/91SoKmhGxx
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 22, 2019
Dalio says that he agrees with some of Ocasio-Cortez's thoughts on income inequality, which he acknowledges is a serious problem in America and throughout the world.
"We're in agreement on the problem that's behind that suggestion. We have to make capitalism work for the majority of Americans. I don't know that we're in agreement on the mechanics," Dalio told CNBC.
Click here to read the full story on the CNBC website.
Image via Shutterstock
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