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Start free trial →Prof G Markets · Money & Markets · June 2026
Pritzker at a live taping of Prof G Markets in Illinois, answering a policy lightning round that included a question about taxing high earners and wealth taxes.
Last one on the policy side, alternative minimum tax on anyone making, say, over $10 million of 50%.
…tax, just because this seems to be the direction in a lot of ways that the Democratic Party is heading. California, they've proposed the wealth tax. We've just seen a federal proposal. I mean, alternative minimum tax is also interesting, but given wealth tax is so popular, what do you make of that?
You may not know that I introduced the graduated income. We have a flat tax in the state of Illinois. I introduced a graduated income tax that would lower taxes on 97% of people in Illinois and raise taxes on the top 3% in Illinois. We could not get that done back in 2019. I really believe that we've got to have a fairer tax system where the wealthy pay a much higher rate than people who are just working class. In fact, most people shouldn't have to pay. A lot of tax. And indeed, there shouldn't be the same tax rate that is applied to someone like you, Scott, as compared to a nurse or someone who's working at McDonald's.
So, I'm sorry, did you have something?
Yeah, I mean, the wealth tax in particular, because this seems to be one of the issues that is going to divide people. Some would say that the wealth tax is going too far. Maybe it would disincentivize investment. Maybe it's too anti-business. Like, where do you land on this ultimately?
Like I said, I think the wealthy, and we've talked about a millionaire's tax here in the state of Illinois as an alternative to a graduated income tax. By the way, do you know who introduced the graduate income tax in the United States? Abraham Lincoln.