Wyden, son spar publicly over taxing the rich – Pamplin Media Group

The hedge fund-owning son disagrees in the media with his father's tax policies.

A disagreement over taxing the rich between Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and his hedge fund-owning son, Adam, is going increasingly public.

The Senate Finance Committee chairman is a major advocate of increasing taxes on the wealthy while his Florida-based son has criticized such efforts on social media and news interviews. The New York Times posted a lengthy story about the dispute Friday, Dec. 10, and printed the article in its Sunday edition. The Hill, an online political news outlet, then reported on the article.

"Why does he hate us / the American dream so much?!?!?!?!" Adam Wyden tweeted last month. "Reality is: most legislators have never built anything so I guess it's easier to mindlessly and haphazardly try and tear stuff down."

Ron Wyden told the Times that he has avoided talking to his son about their disagreement.

"He doesn't talk to me about his business, and I don't talk to him about mine," he was quoted as saying.

Ron Wyden is a Democrat and his son describes himself as a libertarian.

The U.S. senator is pushing to add his proposal to tax billionaires' unrealized capital gains to the Build Back Better legislation that has passed the U.S. House and is now before the U.S. Senate. Democrats are hoping to pass the massive social and climate spending package as soon as possible, but are still negotiating details with holdout members.

Adam Wyden has said he will personally not be hurt by his father's proposal.

"Thankfully, I think I can compound faster than my dad and his cronies can confiscate it," he tweeted last month.

The younger Wyden continued to criticize his father and other lawmakers. The younger Wyden was asked about his tweets during a CNBC interview last month.

"It's clear to me that the people that are making these policy decisions have never experienced the up and downs of running a business," he said.

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Wyden, son spar publicly over taxing the rich - Pamplin Media Group