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California is chasing wealth that has feet

293 points · 870 comments · idbnstra

  1. binlog · · focus · HN ↗
    Wealth taxes are a symptom of a broken tax system. If you let someone get to hundreds of billions in net worth and then realize they haven’t been appropriately paying back into the system, it’s already too late. Like the article says they can simply say “no” in a variety of ways, from fighting in court to simply leaving.
    1. philipallstar · · focus · HN ↗
      > If you let someone get to hundreds of billions in net worth and then realize they haven’t been appropriately paying back into the system

      This is to once again mistake net worth for money. Net worth is not real. It is not a good measure of the money someone may be able to realise. They do not have hundreds of billions. There is nothing to tax until they sell some shares.

      1. jedmeyers · · focus · HN ↗
        Another thing with taxing unrealized gains is that no one in the government is willing to return any money if the unrealized losses happened. Somehow it's all hunky-dory when someone loses 1M in stock value, but as soon as someone's stock went up 1M they all want to tax it right away.
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