Buttigieg Proposes Hiking Capital Gains Tax: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign is proposing increases in the capital gains tax to pay for $2.1 trillion of domestic spending he outlined earlier Friday.

Buttigieg’s plan would target the top 1% of taxpayers, forcing them to use mark-to-market accounting that taxes assets as they appreciate instead of when they’re sold or when the owner dies. And he would raise capital gains rates for the top 1% of income earners by taxing them at the higher rate for ordinary income.

Those changes would raise the $2.1 trillion over 10 years. That’s the amount of new spending the South Bend, Indiana, mayor proposed earlier Friday on education, housing, job training and tax cuts for working-class families, said spokeswoman Tess Whittlesey.

That spending includes:

Battleground Democrats Want Moderate Nominee (12:35 p.m.)

A majority of Democrats in six battleground states want their nominee to be a moderate who works with Republicans, but they are evenly divided on their party’s agenda, according to a poll by the New York Times and Siena College.

The survey of voters in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the potential swing states of Arizona, Florida and North Carolina may give a hint of the enduring popularity of former Vice President Joe Biden. But it also showed why he’s facing competition from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Biden was the top pick of respondents in each of the states except Wisconsin, where he and Warren were essentially tied. Among those surveyed, 62% said they preferred a candidate who would “promise to find common ground with Republicans” and be more moderate than most Democrats, two themes of Biden’s campaign.

But while 49% said they would prefer a candidate who would “promise to bring politics in Washington back to normal,” 45% wanted one who would “promise to bring fundamental, systematic change to American society” -- a description that is closer to the kinds of campaigns Warren and Sanders are running.

The poll of 1,568 Democratic primary voters in six states was conducted Oct. 13-26. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, though that may be higher in specific states. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith

Buttigieg’s Economic Plan Includes Free College (12:05 p.m.)

Pete Buttigieg unveiled an economic plan Friday that would pay full public college tuition for families making less than $100,000 and reduced tuition for families earning up to $150,000.

Buttigieg’s $500 billion higher education plan is less ambitious than those of some of his Democratic rivals. Elizabeth Warren, for example, would also cancel student debt up to $50,000 for former students. Buttigieg has proposed national service to help students pay off student loans.

All told, Buttigieg’s economic programs would cost at least $2 trillion. He also wants to expand Earned Income Tax Credits and housing subsidies, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and give everyone paid sick leave and free child care.

The plan did not explain how Buttigieg would pay for the new spending. -- Gregory Korte

COMING UP

Joe Biden will take questions from Iowa voters at a town hall hosted by CNN on Monday. Tom Steyer will take part in a similar event on Sunday.

The major Democratic candidates -- including Biden, Warren, Bernie Sanders and Buttigieg -- will appear Nov. 17 at the Nevada Democratic Party’s First in the West dinner, a major event that in 2015 drew thousands to hear from presidential hopefuls.

Ten candidates have qualified for the fifth Democratic debate, on Nov. 20 in Atlanta: Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker and Steyer.

--With assistance from Ryan Teague Beckwith.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Bill Faries

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