by Don Keelan

Most Vermont taxpayers will have filed a self-assessment of their 2025 income with the State Department of Taxation by now.  

The key phrase in the above is “self-assessment.” If the Progressives in the Vermont Legislature have their way by embracing a potential Wealth Tax, such a phrase becomes the foundation starting point, from which the tax rate will be applied. More on this below.

No state has a tax on a taxpayer’s wealth. However, California just might, if Ballot Initiative #25-0024, a proposal to have a 5% tax on the wealth of the state’s 200 or so billionaires, passes muster this fall. 12 European countries once had such a tax; only five do now.

What is a tax on wealth? Basically, a taxpayer would file a new schedule, a balance sheet, with their annual tax return. A balance sheet, also known as a statement of financial position, lists all of the taxpayers’ assets, less any outstanding debt. The difference is a sum, net worth, or net equity. That sum would then become the basis for the tax rate to be applied, resulting in the tax due.

To be more specific, the taxpayer would ESTIMATE the market value of their home and other real estate holdings, automobiles, guns, hunting camps, boats/yachts, furniture, works of art, jewelry, investments in publicly traded or non-publicly traded securities, retirement accounts, and all other possessions of value. If there are any debts, promissory notes, or mortgages related to these assets, such amounts would be deducted from the total asset holdings figure.

The keyword is “estimate,” leaving it to the taxpayer to value the assets and, by doing so, creating an incentive to keep the values as low as possible. For the tax authorities to verify a taxpayer’s self-valuations would be a herculean task; surely the Vermont Tax Department is not equipped to handle it.

Can such a tax come to Vermont? It is possible when you consider what Kevin McCallum, of Seven Days, reported in the May 2, 2026, Bennington Banner. His reporting on the House Dems looking to increase income taxes on Vermont’s wealthiest provided an interesting comment from Sen. Ann Cummings (D-Washington), “There are only about a thousand millionaires in Vermont and a single billionaire.”

 My interpretation: if adopted in Vermont, the base for a tax on an individual’s wealth would be to assess it on those whose net worth is in the low seven figures. And if more revenue is needed, the base will be lowered for those in the six-figure asset category. 

My second concern when it comes to the tax (a Senator Sanders/Warren creation) is that it will drive many of the millionaires now residing in Vermont to change their legal/tax residence elsewhere. The columnist George F. Will noted in a recent Washington Post column that 30% of California’s 200 billionaires have since left the state, fearing that the wealth redistribution campaign is now underway.

The Dems in the Vermont Legislature engaged professors from Cornell University to refute the claim that Vermont would lose its high-earning taxpayers if income taxes on the wealthy were increased.  Nothing was mentioned about whether, in addition, a wealth tax would be adopted. 

Nevertheless, in McCallum’s piece, he also noted Governor Phil Scott’s comment on the professor’s conclusions: “Asked why he continues to believe what data-based research has shown to be a myth, Scott told reporters that he could ‘bring in a dozen CPAs who would love to have that discussion with you.”

This writer, a retired CPA, may not be one to be called in; however, I am aware of a half-dozen former Vermont high-income taxpayers who have moved out of state.

And if Vermont’s Representative Becca Balint’s (Bernie Sanders heir apparent) May 4, 2026, manifesto, “New Affordability Agenda,” is adopted, a national tax on a person’s wealth will be front and center to pay for what she and her colleagues, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are proposing. 

How else can the country pay for the $20,000 to first-time home buyers, no more time and a half, instead, double wages for overtime (I guess she also means this for nonprofit organizations?), cheaper prices (her words) for gas, groceries, heat, electric, and child care.

Could Balint and her CPC be looking to adopt a national wealth tax, too?