OnPolitics: Will the billionaires income tax last?

Wednesday, October 27

Salaries differ massively across the globe and highlight how much or little people live on to get by. Several different factors affect salaries including work opportunities available in a country, a country's level of wealth, the minimum wage (if one exists at all), and the income tax rate. The crowd-sourced global database Numbeo has computed the average monthly net (after-tax) salary in some 109 countries around the world. 24/7 Wall St. drew on their data to reveal the 25 nations with the highest take-home pay. It may surprise no one to learn that the most prosperous country on the list, by a good measure, is Switzerland. Perhaps more unexpectedly, economically thriving South Korea, which boasts the fourth-largest GDP in Asia, takes the bottom place, followed by two generally affluent Western European countries, Austria and Belgium -- both among the richest countries in the world . A country's average salary can illuminate some aspects of its economy but it doesn't tell us anything about wealth distribution, of course. The United States has the fifth-highest average after-tax salary on this list, at $3,560 a month. But a full-time employee working a job for the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour brings in only $1,160 a month -- just over $1,000 a month for a worker in New York State, for instance, about on a par with the average take-home pay in Slovakia or Lebanon. Meanwhile, according to Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report, in 2020 there were 20.27 millionaires in America -- and the U.S. isn't even one of the countries with the widest gaps between rich and poor.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., proposed a new funding option for Biden's infrastructure plan: a billionaire income tax.

Happy hump (🐪) day, OnPolitics readers!

Democratic leaders on the Hill are still haggling over the Build Back Better Act. USA TODAY Congress reporter Savannah Behrmann reports "the billionaire tax has raised serious logistical and viability questions." Democrats were hoping to have an agreement passed before President Joe Biden left for Europe this week. That may or may not happen.

Meanwhile ...

Biden's pick to represent the federal government at the Supreme Court is poised for confirmation despite Republican criticism that she abandoned legal positions staked out by the Trump administration before the high court.

Elizabeth Prelogar, who Biden nominated to be solicitor general in August, has sailed through her confirmation process, avoiding the bitter partisan brawls that accompanied some of his other Justice Department nominees. Senate Democrats on Monday queued up a vote on Prelogar for this week.

Prelogar isn't the only one the upper chamber is confirming: The Senate confirmed two prominent anti-Trump Republicans to serve in the Biden administration on Tuesday, with former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona approved to serve as the ambassador to Turkey and Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Sen. John McCain, approved to serve as the ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

The Senate also voted to confirm former Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico to serve as ambassador to New Zealand and Victoria Reggie Kennedy of Massachusetts, the widow of former Sen. Ted Kennedy, to serve as ambassador to Austria.

It's Amy and Mabinty, with the day's top news.

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What we know about the proposed 'billionaires income tax'

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has introduced a new "billionaires income tax" that would force the wealthy to pay taxes each year as their assets grow rather than waiting until they sell off their holdings.

Wyden released the details of the proposal on Tuesday as Congress weighs how to pay for the bulk of President Joe Biden's agenda: a vast expansion of the social safety net and improvements to physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

Who is getting taxed? The change would apply to taxpayers who have either $100 million in income or $1 billion in assets for three consecutive years. Taxpayers need only hit one of those two marks in each of those three years to trigger the tax. About 700 taxpayers would meet those criteria, according to Wyden's office.

How much money are we talking? Precisely how much Wyden's proposal would generate – and how likely it is to win support – is unclear. His office said it would raise "hundreds of billions of dollars." On Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., denounced the plan as "divisive."

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GOP members who voted to impeach Trump out raise opponents

Nine House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump outraised their GOP challengers over the summer months, new federal election data shows.

Who's not happy: Trump.

The incumbents are being targeted by Trump and his allies, who want to unseat them for their decision to vote with Democrats to impeach Trump for the "incitement" of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Of the 10 House Republicans who backed Trump's impeachment, nine are running for reelection, and some are facing candidates endorsed by the ex-president.

Who's happy: Liz Cheney.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., leads the group in fundraising, amassing more than $1.7 million in the third quarter. She was by far the top fundraiser among those who voted for impeachment, bringing in more than $1 million more than her nearest counterpart. The other eight Republicans who supported impeachment in some cases raised double or nearly double the amount as their Republican primary challengers.

PB&J sandwiches are a classic. But is it healthy? USA TODAY asked the experts. — Amy and Mabinty

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