Jeff Bezos saw what Washington State Democrats were doing – and he moved to Florida.
Now Senate Democrats just unveiled a $1.5 trillion tax increase and called it their party's top priority heading into 2026.
If you think this stays in Washington D.C., you haven't been paying attention.
Randi Weingarten Called the Shot
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland held a press conference last week to roll out what he's billing as a "millionaire surtax."
The math is not subtle.
Van Hollen wants to stack a 12 percent surcharge on top of the existing 37 percent top income tax rate – a rate Democrats also plan to raise back to 39.6 percent whenever they get the votes.
Run those numbers: a New York City earner in the top bracket would hand over $6.38 of every next $10 they make to the government.
Not $6.38 out of $100. Out of $10.
https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/2031871033670832465?s=20
Standing at that press conference was Randi Weingarten – the most powerful teachers' union boss in America and one of the most influential voices in the Democrat Party.
"This is the AFT's no. 1 priority," Weingarten declared.
Not reading scores.
Not the schools she fought to keep closed while your grandkids fell behind.
Taxing your neighbors.
That's priority number one.
This Is Not 2021. This Is 1979.
Americans for Tax Reform put the sharpest point on what Democrats are actually proposing.
Van Hollen's plan would push the top capital gains tax rate to 35.8 percent – the highest rate on investment income since 1978, the Jimmy Carter stagflation era.
This is not a talking point. It's math with a history lesson attached.
Reagan inherited that era and cut the capital gains rate to 20 percent.
The economy exploded.
Twenty million jobs. Record income growth.
The end of the malaise Carter Democrats created by doing exactly what Van Hollen is proposing now.
And it's not just Van Hollen.
Senator Cory Booker – a possible 2028 presidential candidate – wants to raise the top income tax brackets to 41 and 43 percent, raising roughly $1.4 trillion over a decade.
A separate bill backed by AOC, Ilhan Omar, and 34 other House Democrats wants the 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax applied to every dollar earned above $250,000.
https://twitter.com/bluelivesmtr/status/2032275453663461748?s=20
Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna are pushing a 5 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires – not their income, their total net worth – every single year.
Van Hollen already has 19 Senate co-sponsors.
The Pattern Your Dad Remembers
Democrats have pulled this move before.
Bill Clinton ran in 1992 promising a middle-class tax cut.
He won. The middle-class cut never came. The tax increases did.
This time they're not even pretending to be subtle about it.
The Van Hollen bill is being marketed as a tax "cut" on the grounds that Democrats promise to redistribute the money to lower-income Americans.
A Democrat congressman stood at that press conference and cited a French economist as the intellectual backbone of the plan.
AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Bernie Sanders are the intellectual backbone of the plan.
That should tell you everything about who is driving this agenda.
Meanwhile, Washington state Democrats just passed their own millionaire tax – a 9.9 percent levy on income above $1 million – on a party-line vote after an overnight session.
That's the proof of concept Van Hollen is trying to scale nationally.
Jeff Bezos left Seattle after Washington passed its capital gains tax in 2022.
The state lost $954 million in a single year from that one move.
https://twitter.com/Tootebug16713/status/2032310051407569127?s=20
Now 44 percent of Washington business leaders say they're considering leaving too.
Democrats passed the millionaire tax anyway – on a party-line vote, over Republican objections that it would drive out the people who create jobs.
They don't care about the jobs. They care about the votes.
Here's what connects all of this: Democrats have built a political machine that runs on other people's money, and the machine needs feeding.
Randi Weingarten's union fought to keep classrooms shut – and now wants to raid your investment account to keep the operation funded.
Reagan looked at what the Carter Democrats built with high taxes and stagflation and cut his way to 20 million new jobs.
Democrats looked at that same history and decided to try it again.
They're running the play at the federal and state level simultaneously – and calling it their number one priority.
Sources:
- Ira Stoll, "Democrats Head Into Elections Pushing $1.5 Trillion Tax Increase," Washington Free Beacon, March 12, 2026.
- John Kartch and Rachel Loren, "Democrats Propose Highest Capital Gains Tax Since 1978," Americans for Tax Reform, March 2026.
- "Could Washington State 'Millionaires Tax' Lead to Capital Flight?" CPA Practice Advisor, March 10, 2026.
- "WA Lawmakers Wrap Up 2026 Session, Pass 'Millionaires Tax,'" FOX 13 Seattle, March 12, 2026.
- "The Historical Lessons of Lower Tax Rates," The Heritage Foundation.
