Thursday, October 28 top stories
Hello, it is Thursday, October 28. I am taking Alex’s place today. Ready for today’s top news briefs?
Democrats in the Senate hoped to pass a bill to force a special tax on billionaires, but it failed on Wednesday after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (D) and all Republicans opposed it.
The bill wanted to tax billionaires about 23% on their capital gains. "Capital gains" is when an asset you own, such as stocks, goes up. This is how Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk became billionaires, because they own a large percentage of their own companies and when their companies become more valuable, they become richer. Democrats wanted to tax that increase. If Democrats succeeded in passing the tax bill, Elon Musk would have been required to pay almost $40 billion in taxes based on his success with Tesla.
Musk announced on Twitter earlier this week that he is opposed to the bill. There are about 700 billionaires in the U.S. and it is more likely most of them didn't want to see the bill pass, and they succeeded. For now, there will be no special tax on billionaires.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen says the threat from China is increasing 'every day' and for the first time confirms the presence of US military trainers on the island. Earlier this month, China's military sent a record number of warplanes into the air around Taiwan.
In a major speech on October 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping again pledged "peaceful reunification" between Taiwan and the mainland.
On Taiwan's National Day on October 10, in response to growing Chinese military action, President Tsai said Taiwan could not be forced to follow "the path China had laid out for it. There should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure.”
Biden vows to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation, marking a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who do not identify as male or female, and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year, the State Department said Wednesday.
The U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, said the decision brings the government documents in line with the “lived reality” that there is a wider spectrum of human sex characteristics than is reflected in the previous two designations.
“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” Stern said.
The department now also allows applicants to self-select their gender as male or female, no longer requiring them to provide medical certification if their gender did not match that listed on their other identification documents.
Australia plans to make social media companies obtain parental consent for users under the age of 16 and is threatening fines of up to 10 million Australian dollars ($7.5 million) for internet platforms which fail to comply, under draft legislation published on Monday.
Social media companies, which include anonymous forums like Reddit and smartphone dating apps like Bumble, would also be required to take all reasonable steps to determine users' ages and prioritize children's interests when collecting data, the Online Privacy Bill said.
The new proposed rules would put Australia among the most stringent countries in terms of age controls for social media.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
https://www.axios.com/billionaire-income-tax-congress-democrat-8ecb70b3-ae97-42cf-9401-f8fa78b8c29f.html
https://www.axios.com/us-wealth-tax-difficulties-fba21625-1e86-4e1d-b8ff-9f576655883b.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/27/asia/tsai-ingwen-taiwan-china-interview-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/27/taiwan-has-no-right-to-join-un-china-insists-as-us-ratchets-up-tensions
https://apnews.com/article/us-passports-x-gender-designation-2c29e18fc6566d549b9a06fda0857602
https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-plans-force-parental-consent-minors-social-media-2021-10-25/