[asuffield]

Please consider what kind of behaviour you would encourage. If wealth erodes every year then this strongly disincentives long term thinking and rewards business ventures which give quick cash and then burn out, like strip mining, and punishes planning for the future like pensions.

You want your tax system to reward long term thinking, not punish it.

[bluecalm]

I don't understand why it would encourage what you are predicting. If you "quickly cash out and burn" then you pay a tax on it as well. My argument for wealth tax is that people with most wealth are the ones with the strongest interest to keep the country stable and nice place to live in.