Quote:
Originally Posted by Djeffery
Where is the bulk of that $15T in sovereign wealth? I would imagine a huge chunk of it is paper wealth in the form of home equity for middle class people over 40. So what, we are all supposed to take out a 2nd mortgage of 10% of of the value of our homes to pay a wealth tax? Where is the money for that going to come from because I doubt the banks can even fund that. Oh I get it, the government can go into more debt to loan us the money we get to give the government to pay off the old debt.
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Good point about the fixed wealth tied up in real estate.
That's the thing about "wealth." A lot of it is arbitrary, and isn't realized until it is sold. You may have a Vermeer hanging in your living room, but, how much is it actually worth? No one knows until it is actually sold! What are we supposed to do? Are we to have all our possessions assessed for their value on an annual basis so that their value can be estimated for taxation purposes??? What if the assessment is $1.5M, but, when we sell it the next year, the selling price is only $1.3M. What happens then? Do you apply for a tax refund???
Just imagine the confusion and complexity of figuring this out.
Also, a wealth tax is really a form of double taxation. You made these purchases with after tax income after all. Do you really want this?
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