(ZEROHEDGE) – In an early glimpse of what wealth redistribution will look among developed nations in coming years, on Wednesday the lower house of Argentina’s Congress approved a bill seeking to raise 300 billion pesos ($3.75 billion) through a tax on the ultra rich to finance programs aimed at helping families hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a vote that passed 133 to 115 with two abstentions, people with more than $2.5 million in net worth – over 10,000 individuals – will make an “Extraordinary Solidarity Payment,” paying a one-off 2% flat tax. The tax would increase progressively as equity increases, under the proposal.
“The level of concentration of wealth, in a few hands, is so strong that this contribution falls on less than 0.02 percent of the population,” said government deputy Fernanda Vallejos during debate. “About half of what is collected will be contributed by only 252 people, those who are at the top of the pyramid.”
