Bernie Sanders says 'billionaires shouldn't exist' as he rolls out a wealth tax plan that's even more aggressive than Elizabeth Warren's

• Sen. Bernie Sanders rolled out a plan to tax the wealth of the nation's ultra-rich on Tuesday, going further than his Democratic primary rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren with his proposal that could greatly erode the fortunes of billionaires with steep taxes.
• Sander's wealth tax is more aggressive than Warren's given its scale.
• It would impact more households, levy a higher marginal tax rate, and ultimately bring in more money for government coffers to help pay for some of his ambitious proposals like Medicare for All - as well as pay for other social programs.
• According to the proposal, it would hit the wealthiest 180,000 American households in the top 0.1% and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years.
• In an interview with The New York Times unveiling his plan, Sanders said: "I don't think that billionaires should exist," though he recognized there would always be people who have more money than others.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders rolled out a plan to tax the wealth of the nation's ultra-rich on Tuesday, going further than his Democratic primary rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren with his proposal that could greatly erode the fortunes of billionaires with steep taxes.

Sander's wealth tax is more aggressive than Warren's given its wider scope and scale. It would impact more households, levy a higher marginal tax rate, and ultimately bring in more money for government coffers to help pay for some of his ambitious proposals like Medicare for All - as well as pay for other social programs.

Read more: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren's progressive alliance can only last so long. Here's how the break could happen.

Two economists that the campaign consulted estimated the wealth tax would raise $4.35 trillion over a decade, though conservative economists are likely to criticize those figures as overstated. According to the Sanders proposal, it would hit the wealthiest 180,000 American households in the top 0.1% and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years.

In an interview with The New York Times unveiling his plan, Sanders said: "I don't think that billionaires should exist," though he recognized there would always be people who have more money than others. "This proposal does not eliminate billionaires, but it eliminates a lot of the wealth that billionaires have, and I think that's exactly what we should be doing."

Sanders is also proposing a "national wealth registry" to enforce the tax.

The Sanders plan mirrors elements of Warren's 2% wealth tax, which has become a centerpiece of her ascendant 2020 presidential campaign. In her rallies, crowds often break out in chants of "two cents!" referring to how many cents on the dollar those with fortunes over $50 billion would have to pay. The Warren campaign estimates her plan would generate $2.6 trillion over a decade, $1.75 trillion less than Sanders.

Here are how people's fortunes would fare under the Sanders wealth tax plan:

• $32 million to $50 million: 1% marginal tax rate
• $50 to $250 million: 2%
• $250 to $500 million: 3%
• $500 million to $1 billion: 4%
• $1 billion to $2.5 billion: 5%
• $2.5 billion to $5 billion
• $5 billion to $10 billion
• $10 billion or more: 8%
• These brackets would be cut in half for single-filers.

Warren Gunnels, a senior Sanders campaign adviser, tweeted estimates how much some of the nation's richest individuals would have to pay the government in taxes under the plan. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would owe $8.9 billion in taxes, for example. His net worth is estimated to be $110 billion.

Whether the Sanders wealth tax is passed by Congress is another question, given Republican control of the Senate. Democrats would have to recapture the chamber in next year's elections and they currently face an uphill battle. The Wall Street Journal also reports that implementing a wealth tax would require new government procedures to determine wealth and additional resources for the Internal Revenue Service to enforce compliance.