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.
> 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.
They play a clever little game where they borrow against those shares to live on. Since there’s no realized gain, there’s no income (and the interest is deductible against any incidental gains that might happen along the line). Then when they die, the sale of shares to pay off the loan is a non-taxable event and the estate value is reduced so the heirs won’t pay as much (or any) estate tax.
> They play a clever little game where they borrow against those shares to live on
Yes, everyone in the US can play the same clever little game by taking out a loan against a property and deducting the interest against their income.
> and the estate value is reduced so the heirs won’t pay as much (or any) estate tax
This is just madness. The estate value is reduced so their heirs won't get as much. You still pay inheritance tax on what you get. Anyone can avoid inheritance tax by just not passing anything on.
binlog · · focus · HN ↗
philipallstar · · focus · HN ↗
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.
dhosek · · focus · HN ↗
philipallstar · · focus · HN ↗
Yes, everyone in the US can play the same clever little game by taking out a loan against a property and deducting the interest against their income.
> and the estate value is reduced so the heirs won’t pay as much (or any) estate tax
This is just madness. The estate value is reduced so their heirs won't get as much. You still pay inheritance tax on what you get. Anyone can avoid inheritance tax by just not passing anything on.