What is non spendable property? And a wealth tax would be no more difficult to apply equally and fairly than the current tax system. And it would be arguably much more progressive than the current system. There is no question that for whatever reason the current system has resulted in ever increasing concentration of wealth and power at the top. A flat tax will be even less progressive and only increase the trend.
That would be property which would have to be converted into cash, a home, car, boat, jewelry, stocks and bonds, etc. What all would a wealth tax be applied to?
Well yes it actually is. Do you want a list. First you give me a list of everything that counts as income to show just how smart you think you are and then I will follow.
wages salaries tips bonuses vacation pay severance pay commissions rent received alimony royalties gambling winnings annuities some profits from the sale of a home, vehicle in excess of a set amount interest dividends profits from sale of stocks/bonds Noting that many things which when exchanged for money should be taxed are often not as government is incapable of tracking every exchange between individuals. I asked the question simply to learn what it is you think is the sum total of wealth, and how you would go about taxing it fairly and equally. Your text, which I've emboldened was totally unnecessary. And, feel free to add to my list if you feel I've left something out.
I don't need to come back. You can't answer the question, because you know it destroys your position.
It doesn't matter. Equal application is a bitch. Too bad. Get better not bitter. If they so weren't busy sucking politician ass in pursuit of free ****, they'd be further ahead and wouldn't have to put up with bullshit from self rightious egg heads who have to plead their cause if helplessness and second rate ability
Easy additions are of course are farm income, Social security, pass through business income etc, etc. That said wealth is of course home value, yachts, cars, planes, jewelry, art, stocks, bonds, business book value, gold, etc, etc. probably exclude anything under a certain dollar value and of course exclude say the first few hundred thousand. Smarter people than myself would have to work out the details but there is no question that the current tax system has failed to stop the increasing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands which long term will destroy the social fabric of our Democracy.
Much of that is currently taxed annually, while not by Federal government, by State and local government. And while property such as land and homes usually appreciate in value over time cars, yachts, planes usually diminish over time. Initially you stated "And a wealth tax would be no more difficult to apply equally and fairly than the current tax system.", and NOW you claim "Smarter people than myself would have to work out the details", which would appear to recognize that it would be quite difficult to apply AND that the idea is NOT based on equality and/or fairness but much more so on simply equalizing outcome by taking from one segment of the population and redistribution of a portion to another segment of the population. And that, in my opinion, is the fundamental change Obama spoke about which has been gradually increasingly employed by our Federal government beginning in 1913 with intent to reduce our Republic comprised of 50 States into a Social Democracy, Collectivist form of government Centrally controlled by politicians who use our tax dollars to buy voters.
Of course it would be difficult to fully design a wealth tax system. But the neither you nor I could have developed the current tax system or any tax system. And if an asset diminishes in value over time than the wealth tax for that asset would also diminish. A wealth tax taxes the value of the asset not the appreciation or depreciation of the value of that asset.
Speak for yourself, I would not have created anything resembling the current tax system, but would have no problem at all creating 'a' tax system applied fairly and equally to all. In fact our founders had created what I feel was the best possible tax system to fairly provide the revenues to fund our Federal government, which would only require repealing the 16th amendment and would likely result in a massive decrease in Federal spending quite quickly. Could you put some numbers to use and provide an example of how you think such would work? Most investments are made in assets because they will appreciate in value over time otherwise we would just stuff money under the mattress. Besides, when people turn their investments into hard currency they are taxed on the difference between the purchase price and the sale price. And who would be the authority empowered to determine the value of millions upon millions of assets which the only true value can be determined at the time the asset is put up for sale, and a willing purchaser can be found? In my opinion the Federal government taxes too much already, and needs to reduce both taxes and spending, NOT increase either.
I think he already does that in many cases, including transportation to/from places they want to demonstrate/instigate/riot.
If you really need me to explain how a wealth tax works as opposed to an income tax there is no way you are going to design any type of tax system. And as for a " fair" tax system there are many many different opinions as to what would constitute a fair tax system. Some like a flat tax, some a progressive tax, some a wealth tax, some a consumption tax and there are infinite variations in between. And valueing assets isn't all that complicated. You know what your car is worth, your house, your yacht, your land holdings your art collection. And businesses are valued all the time without a sale. And liabilities are equally easy. When you die all your assets are valued for the estate taxes. No big deal. Want a loan. The bank can and does value your assets. Will there be cheating. Of course. But people cheat on their income all the time.
I'm asking you to present an example with numbers showing how your proposed wealth tax would work. Take Bill Gates for example as he is one of the wealthiest, about $90B last I saw. Ignoring income tax, how would the wealth tax be applied to his wealth and in terms of dollars what might he pay? Each of the items, with the exception of art collections are currently taxed, would you apply a Federal tax to them as well? If you purchase a painting for $100, and some rich person would be glad to pay $100,000 for it would it be taxed based on what you paid for it or at what another would be willing to pay you for it, forcing you to sell in order to avoid the tax? Put up some numbers, like I did in my income tax proposal in post #163, or are you trying to pull a Pelosi? "You have to pass the bill to see what's in it." So a wealth tax would probably criminalize a greater number of the populationas a result.
