Republican megadonor and hedge fund billionaire John Paulson revealed that he would pull his money out of the stock market if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the upcoming presidential election, pointing to “uncertainty” around her economic policies.
In an interview with Fox Business host Liz Claman, Paulson who founded Paulson & Co., spoke about how the Biden-Harris administration wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and wants to raise the capital gains rate from 20 percent to 28 percent. Trump has previously considered having Paulson serve as his Secretary of the Treasury if elected president.
“The difference between the Trump administration and Harris is very, very different,” Paulson explained. “Trump is — wants to extend the current, very successful tax policy, which was implemented in 2017. The Biden-Harris group, on the other hand, wants to change that. They want to change the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, they want to raise the capital gains rate from 20 percent initially to 39 percent now, they flip-flopped back to 28 percent.”
When asked by Claman what the “next big bet” similar to Paulson’s big bet on subprime mortgages would be, Paulson explained that it would depend on “who is in the White House,” adding that he would be concerned if Harris wins the presidential election and “pursues” her proposed “tax plans and other economic plans.”
“Well, I would say it very much depends on who is in the White House and who controls Congress,” Paulson explained. “I’d be very concerned if Harris is elected and pursues the tax plans and other economic plans that she articulated. You alluded to the tax on unrealized gains — if they do implement a 25 percent tax on unrealized gains that would cause mass selling of almost everything. Stocks, bonds, homes, art. I think it would result in a crash in the markets and a immediate, pretty quick recession.”
Claman pointed out how people pulled their money out of the stock market when former President Barack Obama and when former President Donald Trump were in office, though the markets increased during their administrations.
When asked if Paulson would pull his money from the stock market, Paulson revealed that if Harris were elected, he would pull his investments out of the stock market due to the uncertainty around Harris’s economic plans and policies.
“It depends on the policy,” Paulson explained. “I think if Harris was elected, I would pull my money from the market. I’d go into cash and I’d go into gold because I think the uncertainty regarding the plans they outlined would create a lot of uncertainty in the markets and likely lower markets.”
