[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 197 (Thursday, November 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Brown, Mr. Casey, 
        Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Warren, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Hirono, Ms. 
        Baldwin, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Reed, Mr. 
        Welch, Ms. Smith, and Mr. Markey):
  S. 3367. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
eliminate tax loopholes that allow billionaires to defer tax 
indefinitely through planning strategies such as ``buy, borrow, die'', 
to modify over 30 tax provisions so that billionaires are required to 
pay taxes annually, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I am going to spend a few minutes 
discussing the three words on this chart next to me: buy, borrow, and 
die. These three little words are allowing billionaires across America 
to legally get away with paying little or nothing in taxes for years 
and years on end.
  Here is how it works: A billionaire buys and holds assets, like works 
of art, more houses than they can possibly live in, stocks and bonds, 
you name it. They increase in value untaxed.
  The billionaire then borrows against these assets to support a lavish 
lifestyle, and they can borrow at a fraction of the consumer rate due 
to the enormous holdings of these valuable assets. That loan is 
untaxed. The billionaire's assets appreciate at a higher rate than the 
interest on the loan--that is not hard to do. So the billionaire can, 
essentially, do all of this until they die, and then their kids can 
start all over again.
  So let's now contrast buy, borrow, and die with the tax system in 
America for firefighters and nurses. Nurses and firefighters, for 
example, living in Philomath, OR, are required to pay taxes out of 
every paycheck. Working people don't get to play by these billionaire 
rules. They don't get to call up an army of high-priced lawyers and 
accountants every time they don't feel like paying their taxes.
  Right now, the average billionaire can wriggle their way into a low 8 
percent tax rate while a nurse or a firefighter making $45,000 is 
paying a 22 percent tax on their wages. Now, here is the gut punch for 
everybody who is following this and works for a wage: Current buy, 
borrow, and die practices under our tax law are perfectly legal. That 
is a pretty sickening reality. Tax laws simply don't apply to 
billionaires in the same way they do to firefighters and nurses.
  Nurses, firefighters have mandatory tax rules. The billionaires can 
pretty much pay what they want, when they want to. How is that fair? 
Americans overwhelmingly believe it is not. So it is time to look to 
solutions that restore fairness to the Tax Code while still rewarding 
success. After all, that is what our country was founded on. We believe 
deeply in success and the ethic of giving everybody a chance to get 
ahead.
  Luckily, there is a solution that achieves both fairness and economic 
growth. Today, I, along with 15 other Members of the Senate, am 
introducing the first comprehensive Billionaires' Income Tax that would 
finally end buy, borrow, and die. This is going to put a stop to one of 
the most common schemes billionaires can use to pay little or no taxes 
for years and years on end.
  Now, as to implementation of our bill, there is a way already on the 
tax books that allows you to do it. In the Tax Code there are mark-to-
market rules and policies.
  Now, for the tax wonks out there, people who think tax policy and its 
root-canal-like pain are enjoyable, here are the sections: Mark to 
market is in section 475, it is in section 877A, it is in section 1256, 
and it is in section 1296. So there is your model. That is how you do 
it. You use rules and policies that are on the books today, a blueprint 
right in front of us to use as a model for taxing billionaires fairly.
  Mark to market under the Billionaires' Income Tax would require 
billionaires to pay taxes every year, just like those firefighters and 
nurses. It is time to close the loopholes and make sure that everybody 
at the very top is paying taxes on their income as it is earned, and 
our Billionaires' Income Tax is the way to do it.
  This Congress, our staff on the Finance Committee and I have 
investigated a number of tax schemes that the very wealthy, with the 
help of armies of tax lawyers and accountants, use to pay virtually no 
Federal tax. The Finance Committee has investigated crooked Swiss 
bankers hiding wealthy Americans' income; $34 billion in unpaid taxes 
from the very wealthy, who won't even file a tax return--we are not 
even talking about schemes, they won't even file a return; unpaid taxes 
for millionaires; tax-dodging schemes between Leon Black and the 
notorious Jeffrey Epstein; and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's 
wealthy buddy secretly forgiving a massive private loan. Billionaires 
looking to dodge their taxes are thriving today under the current tax 
laws.
  So I want a tax policy, as chairman of the Finance Committee, that 
gives everybody in America the chance to get ahead. Our friend, our 
former colleague, Senator Bradley from New Jersey--has a better jump 
shot than I do--that is what he talked about, is opportunity, giving 
everybody a chance to get ahead. Unfortunately, the flawed tax policies 
that billionaires take advantage of promote wealth building in the 
hands of a fortunate few.
  This is leaving a lot of people behind. Over one-third of families in 
America don't have the cash on hand to pay for a $400 emergency if they 
had to. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, when families were forced make 
tough choices between paying rent and buying groceries, billionaires 
increased their wealth by over $1 trillion.
  We have big needs in this country--obviously, the Medicare solvency 
crisis. We have seniors at the risk of losing the Medicare guarantee 
unless there is a way forward for paying for it. If Medicare becomes 
financially insolvent, seniors and Americans who counted on those 
guaranteed health benefits need look no further than billionaires, tax 
cheats, and their Republican allies who refuse to say that the 
billionaires could pay their fair share.
  The Billionaires' Income Tax raises an estimated $557 billion over 10 
years. If the ultra-wealthy started paying their fair share under my 
Billionaires' Income Tax proposal, we could be on our way to making 
Medicare financially sound, protecting the Medicare guarantee for 
millions of Americans.
  I am going to close with this: The Billionaires' Income Tax is not an 
attack on success; it is a fundamental strike for fairness. We want a 
successful economy, and to have a successful economy, you have to have 
a Tax Code that ensures that everybody in America gets a fair shake, 
and treats everybody fairly.
  It is time, in my view, to close the gap between the billionaires at 
the top and everybody else, and our Billionaires' Income Tax is a way 
to make that happen.
                                 ______