Closing the billionaire borrowing loophole would strengthen the progressivity of the U.S. tax code - Equitable Growth

Some of the wealthiest people in the U.S. take advantage of this loophole, including Larry Ellison and Elon Musk .

Authors: Some billionaires borrow money using their financial assets as collateral and then pay little to no taxes.

They say closing the loophole could raise more than $100 billion over 10 years in a highly progressive and reasonably efficient way.

Authors propose that borrowing of billionaires and centi-millionaires be taxed as realizing income.

Tax would apply to borrowing for any purpose (including mortgages) by U.S. households with assets more than $100 million .

Half of the estimated revenue comes from billionaires, and 90 percent of that is from the richest 400 individuals in the United States .

Authors: New borrowing over the decade following enactment of the tax would generate an additional $46 billion of income taxes.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld taxes similar to our proposal as a constitutional excise tax on the activity at issue.

Authors: The current treatment of borrowing allows wealthy Americans to consume their income without paying taxes on it.

They say the proposal would equalize the tax treatment of consumed income for rich and ordinary Americans .