[thow-01187]

What about the following proposition - any publicly traded company must issue, every calendar year, new shares worth of 2% of the total shares outstanding, and transfer them to the tax office.

That's essentially a 2% wealth tax on the stock market, borne equally by all shareholders, regardless of their residence. Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't see any accounting magic to avoid such a tax.

But then again - there's one agenda that unites left and right across the developed world - no wealth taxes.

[ericmay]

The tax office where? In the United States? Maybe companies would just stop “going public” or would become publicly traded in another jurisdiction. Or maybe France doesn’t like that China says French companies have to issue 2% per year in new shares to operate in China. Or better yet, how do you do this in all countries? Is it 2%/year in all countries?

Etc. I think there are a lot of scenarios to think through.

-edit-

Didn’t downvote you BTW. Shame on those who are when you’re just having a discussion. We really need to get rid of that as a tool.