Tax the rich doesn’t work like the utopic stories tell.
Typically what happens is the rich leave to a place with less taxes or where they’re not seen as the mortal enemy of X local government. Then all that tax money they otherwise were paying goes somewhere else, and the state is left with a net-negative tax inflow.
that's the top 1% of people ordered by how much tax they pay, not the top 1% most wealthy. We tend to tax earnings rather than wealth and thus the super wealthy get by with minimal taxation. This should be fixed imo.
Also if you try to dodge US taxes by renouncing your citizenship you owe a large one time payment so it doesn't work so well. So an exodus of super wealthy individuals seems unlikely.
Most wealth tax proposals are to take a percentage of a person's accumulated wealth annually.
A property tax isn't what people are talking about for a wealth tax.
I do believe that you should be able to keep accumulated wealth. We are all equals under the law. Once there is a wealth tax the definition of wealthy will be continually decreased so the government can take more. The government has an insatiable appetite for spending other people's money. It will always demand more.
Like I said, that isn't what is bandied about as a wealth tax. Elizabeth Warren proposes a 2% annual tax for net worth over $50 million and 6% for over $1 billion. It is literally taking a percentage of what they own every year. Don't forget, they would still pay taxes when selling assets.
Typically what happens is the rich leave to a place with less taxes or where they’re not seen as the mortal enemy of X local government. Then all that tax money they otherwise were paying goes somewhere else, and the state is left with a net-negative tax inflow.
The top 1% pays over 25% of all taxes, and the top 50% pay 97% of all taxes: https://taxfoundation.org/publications/latest-federal-income...
I agree we have a problem with wealth inequality, but taxing the rich is a simple, poor solution to a complex problem.