Vermont is debating a 'millionaires tax.' Massachusetts added $1 billion to its budget and paid for school lunches with a similar tax.

• Vermont lawmakers are debating a 3% tax on people who make more than $500,000.
• Six other states have a similar "millionaires tax." Washington, DC does too.
• Massachusetts added $1 billion to its budget with a similar tax last year.

Vermont could soon join a growing list of states adopting laws that tax the rich.

There are now six states that have some kind of "millionaires tax": Maine, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Washington, DC also has a similar kind of tax.

In Massachusetts — the most recent state to adopt one — taxing the rich added $1 billion to the state budget in 2023 and helped provide the state's public school students with free school lunches (and breakfasts, too).