Video Mike Johnson warns Hakeem Jeffries as Democrats divide over socialism vote House Speaker Mike Johnson says 'communists' are taking over the Democratic Party. This comes after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries faces a party split over a resolution condemning socialism. Fox News' Chad Pergram reports.
"Tax the rich." It's one of the easiest political slogans in America.
Need more money for government programs? Tax the rich.
Want universal health care, government-funded childcare, housing programs and expanded Social Security? Just make billionaires pay their "fair share."
Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 2024. Musk was the world's first official trillionaire. (Getty Images)
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The Cato Institute recently decided to run the numbers on nine major proposals associated with the Democratic Socialists of America's 2026 platform. Cato estimates those proposals could cost somewhere between $71 trillion and $212 trillion over the next decade.
Now, that's a gigantic range and an important caveat to know. This isn't a Congressional Budget Office score of one piece of legislation. Cato assembled estimates from multiple studies to illustrate the potential magnitude of these policies.
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But let's take the low number. $71 trillion. Surely America's billionaires can cover that, right?
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Cato estimates America's 400 richest people collectively held approximately $6.6 trillion in wealth in 2025. So, let's do something even the most aggressive tax proposal doesn't suggest.
Sell the yachts. Sell the stocks. Sell the businesses. Empty the bank accounts.
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Congratulations. You raised $6.6 trillion. Unfortunately, you've covered only about 9% of Cato's low-end estimate.
Want universal health care, government-funded childcare, housing programs and expanded Social Security? Just make billionaires pay their "fair share."
And there's another little problem. You can only confiscate someone's fortune once. Next year, you need another taxpayer.
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Fine. Let's go after corporations. Cato estimates domestic corporations could generate approximately $35 trillion of after-federal-tax profits over the next decade. Let's take every additional dollar of that, too.
Forget shareholders. Forget reinvestment. Forget dividends. Take everything. Including your jobs. Even then, according to Cato's calculations, you'd cover only about half of its $71 trillion low-end estimate.
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The federal government is projected to run roughly $24 trillion in deficits over the coming decade under the baseline cited by Cato. We're already spending money we don't have before adding trillions in new promises.
Here's where the math gets even more interesting. Cato cites Joint Committee on Taxation economists who studied how much additional revenue could be generated by pushing top federal income-tax rates toward their revenue-maximizing level.
Cato calculates the additional revenue at roughly $400 billion over 10 years. Why? Because taxpayers aren't mannequins.
Change tax rates dramatically and people change behavior. They work differently, invest differently, realize income differently and find different legal ways to structure their finances.
That's why you can't simply take today's income and multiply it by whatever tax rate sounds good on television.
This is the part politicians don't like discussing. You can argue America should have higher taxes. You can argue government should provide more services. Those are legitimate political debates.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, center, celebrates with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during an election rally at Forest Hills Stadium on Oct. 26, 2025, in Queens, New York. (Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)
But let's stop pretending there's a magical vault somewhere containing enough billionaire money to pay for every promise Washington wants to make.
Eventually the math works its way down the income ladder. First the billionaires. Then the millionaires. Then successful business owners. Then upper-middle-income families.
And there's another little problem. You can only confiscate someone's fortune once. Next year, you need another taxpayer.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
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But it's getting awfully difficult to debate the math.
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Ted Jenkin is President of Exit Stage Left Advisors and Host of The Red, White & Green Show.
