[mars4rp]

Bernie/Warren wealth tax was a good idea in my opinion. It would increase Bezos's effective tax rate from 0.1% to 3%. Bezos's net worth still would increase every year, as the normal capital gain is 8% per year and it is much higher in Amazon.

[TimPC]

Wealth taxes are horrible because they'd require doing a balance sheet to determine all your assets. Things like pricing all your collectibles accurately or determining the present market value of art pieces is a huge pain in the ass. It's also really nasty having fines if the government disagrees on your assessment of values. You'd have issues like the government suing people over mispricing the pokemon cards shut away in their basement where 1st edition charizards are now worth $55,000. Doing a balance sheet every year for taxes really sucks. Income is much simpler to calculate and adjust. It might make sense for wealth above a huge magnitude but at that point it becomes a very small % of government revenue and not something that replaces income tax or truly affects the balance between capital and labour.

There are also nasty effects with start-ups stocks or options that may be worth quite a lot of money but you may not be permitted or be heavily restricted in selling the stock even if you execute the options. There may still be a possibility of the stock going to zero leaving you with a large tax bill and no value in assets.

[mars4rp]

1. It is for people with net worth above $50M. I don't think most of that net worth is pokemon cards! 2. Yes it might be a little bit harder. 3. " it becomes a very small % of government revenue" Tax is about fairness not how much money we can raise from it. 4. this is in top of income tax for high worth individuals. 5. on unliquid assets like startup options, maybe you can pay your tax with those stocks. If it went to 0, you didn't pay any additional tax, if it appreciated government(all of us) would make something on it too.

It is hard and not perfect, but we can't have everything based on income for high net worth people, they won't pay their fair share and keep getting richer and richer.

[rukittenme]

Personally I disagree with their approach. A tax on an unrealized gain is a farce. But I do agree with the sentiment. Alternative forms of taxation need to be introduced.

[voisin]

If fair market value goes down, do they get to claim an unrealized loss too? Seems like the tax is more a tax on market whims than anything.