NEW YORK – Super-rich ex-mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has said a plan to tax his cash is “probably unconstitutional.”

The billionaire, who has suggested he’ll use his own money to bankroll a run to become president, was reacting to a proposed “ultra-millionaire tax” put forward by Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who is also exploring a run for the presidency.

During a visit to New Hampshire this week, Bloomberg said, “We shouldn’t be embarrassed by our system,” before he tried to link Warren’s ideas to the political crisis in Venezuela, a Socialist country where long-running hyperinflation, power cuts and food shortages have been exacerbated by a leadership struggle.

“If you want to look at a system that is not capitalistic, just take a look at what was perhaps the wealthiest country in the world and today people are starving to death. It’s called Venezuela,” Bloomberg said.

Forbes last year named Bloomberg as the second richest man in New York City with a net worth of $51.8 billion.

Warren hit back by saying she wouldn’t expect one of the world’s richest men to support her plan.

“Another billionaire who thinks that billionaires shouldn’t pay more in taxes,” she told The Associated Press. “No surprises — but that’s also not how we’re going to build a future for this country.”

Warren is proposing that a 2 percent tax be added to U.S. households with a net worth greater than $50 million and 3 percent for those worth more than $1 billion.

That is a far more lenient proposal than that put forward by some in her party. New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has suggested a 70 percent tax rate on earnings over $10 million.

“People earn money to pay their taxes, and then they don’t expect the government to come back and take some of it away,” said Bloomberg, who is considering running as a Democrat.

With reporting by the Associated Press

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