MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Slams Proposed Billionaires Tax As ‘Nonsense’: ‘Another Giant Loophole’ for the Rich to ‘Swan Dive Through’
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle slammed the proposed billionaire tax to help pay for the trillions of dollars Democrats have proposed in a reconciliation bill — arguing that billionaires would easily be able to get around it.
On Tuesday’s edition of Stephanie Ruhle Reports, the host played footage of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a deciding vote in the 50-50 Senate that Democrats control only because Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote, talking to billionaire and Carlyle Group co-founder and chairman David Rubenstein at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
“We are actually watching right now as Joe Manchin is speaking. He’s in an interview with David Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle, one of the biggest private equity firms on the planet,” said Ruhle.
“Private equity firms who seem to be keeping that beautiful loophole, carried interest. That’s not being taken away. Talk about this new idea, this billionaire’s tax. This is kind of nonsense, John,” she continued, talking to John Bresnahan, co-founder of Punchbowl News. “They’re being taxed based on their income. People this wealthy pay themselves a teeny-tiny amount. This is not a wealth tax. This is another giant loophole that they’ll be able to swan dive through.”
The billionaire tax has been discussed among Democrats due to Manchin and another swing vote, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) expressing objections to certain tax increases. The former, for example, has come out against raising the corporate tax rate to more than 25 percent, while the latter, for example, has come out against any tax increases. On Monday, Manchin expressed he is open to a tax on billionaires.
“I’m open to any type of thing that makes people pay, that’s not paying now. So people don’t report income like you and I do, earned income, there has to be a way for them to pay their fair share,” he told reporters, according to The Hill.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
