(01-25-2019 09:43 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(01-25-2019 09:29 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-25-2019 09:22 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(01-25-2019 09:13 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-25-2019 09:01 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Not arguing for or against it, but what would make the wealth tax any different in a constitutional sense from any other tax? Legit wondering about the thought process and differentiation.

Good question. I also want to know.

But my question to you is: Why wouldn't you argue against it? Or, put another way, why would anybody argue for it?

I think it is just a move to energize her base, which s mostly socialists.

Well, I don’t know enough about the implementation to argue for or against it. I know the Netherlands has a wealth tax of 1% on some portion of your assets, and they have a good economy and great standard of living. So there’s a data point that at least suggests one shouldn’t outright reject the idea of a wealth tax immediately.

Bleeding the patient didn't kill him, and now he is playing basketball in the driveway, so there is a data point that suggests we should not reject bleeding the patient as a treatment.

when you get a chance, read the link I posted in post #390

Read through it - seems light on the actual substance.

I do like the portion of finding a way to circumvent the circumvention of paying taxes by using tax havens.

On the overall idea of increasing revenues to pay for vital social services, such as expanding healthcare, I’m also on board. We’re woefully behind on healthcare outcomes and spending given our status in the world, and it would be good to be able to tackle that issue with a significant increase in funding.

I do wonder about the consequences for the super wealthy who aren’t super wealthy with liquid assets. But I really don’t have enough knowledge of how these people structure their finances to talk about it intelligently. Or just on investment in general - the number of people this would target is fairly small so it may not have a dent, but it could easily affect investment patterns.

Will need to do some more reading on the implications. But no knee jerk reaction either way.

Well, I have some kneejerk reactions to a wealth tax. For one thing, it taxes the same wealth over and over and over. Picture all your money in a great big wheelbarrow. If you have $50B. it is taxed, leaving $47B in the wheelbarrow. The next year, that same 47B is taxed again, leaving say, $44B in the wheelbarrow, and so forth. This is even mentioned specifically in the article.

Second, property taxes are mentioned as a form of wealth tax. So individuals with a lot of real estate in their net worth, like Trump and myself, end up paying twice.

Third, what is wrong with being successful that the Democrats are always trying to bring wealthy people down?

I wonder why the countries doing this went from 12 to 4. That seems to be a red flag.