> A wealth tax would be hard / impossible to implement.
What do you think property taxes are?
I agree it would be really hard to tax all forms of wealth. But I'm fine with rich people hiding their wealth in artwork or stamps or whatever to save it from taxation. Keeps the money out of useful assets like stocks and houses.
Property taxes are not wealth taxes in most locales. If it was then the tax on your house would only apply to the difference between your asset value and mortgage principal (liability). I can't think of any locale that lets you deduct your mortgage principal from your property tax bill.
I understand what you're saying. But I don't understand why the tax needs to be based on value minus mortgage balance to be considered a wealth tax. You get use of the entire asset even if you still owe the bank money. And the tax goes up (or down) with the assessed value of the property.
One massive difference: Property taxes are state and local taxes, which are not barred by the Constitution in the way that federal property/wealth taxes very likely are (absent an amendment, of course).
(There is debate on this point; I personally find the side arguing that such a tax would not be barred as needing to use fairly tortured lines of reasoning to arrive at their conclusion.) If you can’t pass a wealth tax federally, then whatever state wanted to compete on having a low/zero wealth tax would find plenty of wealthy takers as residents.
What do you think property taxes are?
I agree it would be really hard to tax all forms of wealth. But I'm fine with rich people hiding their wealth in artwork or stamps or whatever to save it from taxation. Keeps the money out of useful assets like stocks and houses.