Posted on 11/12/2019 7:46:48 AM PST by karpov
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is campaigning for a 2% surtax on anyone’s net worth over $50 million and 6% on more than $1 billion. Most discussion of the wealth tax has focused on whether it could generate sufficient revenue to fund Ms. Warren’s various spending plans, and the revenue likely would be far less than she projects. But that focus overlooks the ways the massive new tax would harm all Americans.
If you take comfort in Ms. Warren’s claim that her tax would apply only to the wealthiest Americans, think again. In 1913 the progressives of that era sold a federal income tax with the same pitch, saying it would be drawn only from the very wealthy. In the first year a mere 2% of households filed tax returns. Five years later 20% had to file returns, and by the 10th year nearly 40% did.
“Gullible” is inadequate to describe anyone who believes Ms. Warren and other progressives would resist the temptation to apply a wealth tax to a much broader swath of savers. Given the scope of her proposed government expansion, the tens of trillions in new spending would demand it.
All this assumes that the government would be able to assess the wealth tax to begin with, but experience gives reason for doubt. Twelve European countries had a wealth tax in 1990, but only three maintain one today, largely because implementation problems and negative effects proved insurmountable.
The first problem with assessing the tax is that most wealthy people have illiquid assets, not piles of cash lying around. Ms. Warren plans to solve that problem by letting taxpayers tender a portion of their illiquid assets to the government, rather than forcing them to sell and pay cash.
What if your wealth is in a business with no public stock?
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
So what will happen? How does such a tax get assessed? Will all of us have to file not just 1040 tax returns, but certified financial statements from a CPA, with balance sheets, disclosure of all assets and liabilities? Will we be assessed on our houses, which are already subject to property tax in whatever locality we live in?
And will people who have major assets that aren’t in cash or cash equivalents, be compelled to sell off stocks or assets to get the cash to pay the taxman?
What about all of our IRA, 401K, etc type assets? Will those be subject to confiscation in a wealth tax as well?
From the rest of the article:
"What if your wealth is in a business with no public stock? Ms. Warren has a plan for that: The federal government would take the stock and resell it, saddling entrepreneurs with partners they neither know nor want."
I know this is a no-no...but Read My Lips!!! Biden is done, Warren is done, Sanders is done, Clinton is done, Bloomberg is done, Harris is toast, Booker is toast, O’Rourke is toast, Castro is toast, Buttigieg is Toast, De Blasio is toast,...the entire group of Democrat Party 2020 POTUS candidates are both done and toast!!!
The Supposed “Great” Barack Hussein Obama who is loved, worshipped and adored by millions of Democrats across the country, did not lift one finger in his entire eight years as POTUS to work on and develop a bench bunch of POTUS candidates who were qualified to run for POTUS in 2020!!! Not what one would call a capable strategic thinker!! “Methinks, ex-POTUS, Barack Hussein Obama is not the brightest bulb on the lamp”!!!
Quite frankly the average American does not care about stock prices nearly as much as the WSJ editorial board thinks they do.
If anything there’s a lot of fatigue out there towards Wall Street being the tail that wags the national dog.
Thanks for info.
So you will be partners with the federal government, or unknown partners, in your business. All of this to pay a tax, on a business which may not even have had a profit in that year.
Isn’t a wealth tax something like “double taxation”? So if you have saved and invested, or run a profitable business, and you have already paid taxes on the income generated, now they want another tax layered on top of income taxes?
Personally, I don’t want to go down that road. And I fear as others do, it won’t just always be limited to the wealthiest among us.
The world is running out of money to pay for all its socialist programs.
This is only the beginning.
Global Warming is designed to be a Global VAT tax administered by the UN.
If it fails, they will NOT give up.
If she gets the nomination one push of a button moves my 401k to the fixed guaranteed account. Unfortunately so will millions of others which will cause a market crash.
Studies have found that stock market performance affects presidential approval ratings. McCain was competitive with Obama until the stock market crashed in 2008.
Do not forget about unrealized capital gains. Example you purchased a 10,00 shares of stock for $25 a share and now it is work $50 a share. so you have a stock valued at $50,000 at the end of year. If you do not have the 2% wealth tax ($1,000) so you would sell 20 shares to pay the tax. Others may also need to sell to pay the 2% tax. This would drive down the price of the stock. Also you now have capital gains which are subject to another tax...…...
Looking ahead to a possible future of the 2021 inauguration of President Michelle Obama and VP Oprah Winfrey.
God forbid.
All of us here:”We don’t like it.”
Answer:” That’s racist.”
So back into the DeLorean and stop that future line from coming true.
That's what they want most - because that's where the real money is. You'll get a nice, shiny, FedGov IOU promising payments starting at age 67 based on the "fair market value" of your voluntarily exchanged assets. :)
Lizzy Warcry from the same tribe of criminals. Tax and Spend.
Should be stripped of her feathers and tar and feathered.
If Warren did confiscate 100% of the wealth of the top 100 richest Americans, she would only get just over $1 Trillion — far short from her $30-$54 Trillion spending plans.
Her numbers do not add up and it cannot be blamed on ‘fuzzy math.’ There just simply is not enough wealth to satisfy the greed of the Warrens/Sanderses, etc.
This already exists. It’s the “estate tax.” But the bastards don’t want to wait until the end of a person’s normal lifespan. They want it NOW.
And, it’s not a tax! Stop calling it a tax!
The end goal is complete and total control by the government of all money. AKA communism.
I hate these people.
I'm amazed at the arrogance that comes from ignorance. The Left (and the rest of us) would benefit greatly by an appreciation of the limits of their knowledge.
Just as they believe that socialism/communism would work if only they were running it, so they believe they can pull massive amounts of wealth out of the private sector with no effect on the economy. Consider also the effect of all those $$$ being spent by the government and the harm done to the notion of individual rights, IE property rights.
It's individual rights and the resultant rule of law that makes our economy and our quality of life possible.
Warren is nothing more than a witch doctor, a toddler "fixing" a broken appliance with a hammer. You can't mess with property rights and enjoy an economy.
“Quite frankly the average American does not care about stock prices nearly as much as the WSJ editorial board thinks they do.”
But when it finally sinks in that their IRAs and 401Ks will be decimated by the ensuing stock market crash if Pocahontas gets elected, they will care.
Why doesn’t anybody point out that a wealth tax violates the constitution Article 1 Section 9? The 16th amendment only allows tax on income, not existing wealth.
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