The Supreme Court Should Strike A Blow Against Wealth Taxes

Real Clear Markets ^ | 07/09/2023 | Andrew Wilford

[Repeal The 17th]

“...The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes,
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States,
and without regard to any census or enumeration...”
-
If an investment has increased in value, is it “income”?

[CatOwner]

Should. Won’t, if it comes to that. They screwed up on Obamacare, so anything to do with taxes it’s a sure bet they’ll mess that up too.

[theyreallthesame]

Income is not realized until cashed/realized, no?

[theyreallthesame]

If there was a “Loss Carry Forward”, would you be able to deduct against gains? .... Likely, not.

[Repeal The 17th]

That is the question.
Nine people will decide the answer.

[theyreallthesame]

Why not tax my estimated income based upon 5% annual gains, or more?

[cherry]

yeah lets get all hot and bothered over a "wealth" tax while most Americans are struggling with paying SS taxes, and income taxes and property taxes and sales taxes.....

I would love to see someone get indignant over the average guys multiple taxes....

[theyreallthesame]

Most taxes are buried in the price so that you don’t actually see it. Try paying “Quarterlies” and then you will take notice.

[Still Thinking]

On the other hand, if your car’s theoretical sales price increases, as many did during the pandemic, it makes little sense for Uncle Sam to demand his share unless you actually go ahead and sell.

And not even then, unless they're prepared to allow the original purchase price to be deducted as a business expense, which would turn the transaction into a loss, which would end up REDUCING your taxes....

[abb]

If employer withholding were scrapped, and everyone had to write a check every quarter, it would change things, I suspect.

[theyreallthesame]

100% agree

[Still Thinking]

This is as stupid as the occasional idea to tax “income” from garage sales, selling stuff for cheap at a loss from what you paid for it. Durrrr!

[mikegreenwell39]

To regard any of the products of the corrupt, evil, and immoral USA as “legitimate” is a profound mistake.

[theyreallthesame]

Let’s raise Congressional Salary from $174k TO $200,00K but subject them to 50% taxes like I face.

[minnesota_bound]

“One of the sad signs of our times is that
we have demonized those who produce,
subsidized those who refuse to produce,
and canonized those who complain. “
Thomas Sowell
_________________________________

“Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.”
Walter E. Williams
_________________________________

“Nothing is easier, or more
emotionally satisfying, than
blaming high prices on those who
charge them, rather than on
those who cause them.”
—Thomas Sowell
_________________________________

“Most of the great problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place.”
Walter E. Williams

[Myrddin]

The larger target here is your home. Real estate values have appreciated mostly as a consequence of the debasement of the US Dollar. The higher assessed market value might easily be targeted by the politicians as an "unrealized gain". You might be forced to sell your home to extract the "appreciation" and pay taxes on that. Now you're homeless with a cash value that might not be enough to acquire a replacement dwelling (of MUCH lesser value).

[cpdiii]

My house has tripled in value over the last 20 years. Why in the hell should I pay income taxes on the increase in value unless I sell it?

[Political Junkie Too]

The problem with taxing unrealized gains is that it will result in people being forced to sell their investments to raise the cash to pay the tax on the unrealized gains.

That almost makes a tax on unrealized gains an unconstitutional bill of attainder against people with unrealized gains. It is punitive if it forces people to sell their property (shares in a company) in order to pay the tax.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

From a post of mine from a prior topic - Supreme Court Will Decide If The Government Can Tax Income You Haven’t Received Yet:

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Supreme Court Will Decide If The Government Can Tax Income You Haven’t Received Yet

Unfortunately, SCOTUS already ventured into this realm with the Kelo v. City of New London, CT decision. A smart Constitutional lawyer will bring this case up to stop the practice of taxing unrealized gains, and maybe get SCOTUS to reverse the Kelo decision, too.

In Kelo, SCOTUS ruled that the 5th amendment eminent domain takings for "public use" included the ambiguous "public good." SCOTUS decided that it was a public "good" to increase the tax base of a community by taking private property away from less wealthy people and giving it to other private entities that can generate more taxes with that private property.

SCOTUS allowed the City of New London to declare perfectly good bedroom community homes to be declared "blighted" so they could condemn the property, claim eminent domain, and turn that property over to a developer who was going to build a business park for Pfizer. The new property would generate more property taxes for New London than the houses would, they reasoned.

In time, the developer was unable to secure financing and the project was abandoned. New London lost out on their existing property taxes from the houses, and also the unrealized future taxes from the business park that was never built.

Taxing the unrealized gains of investments may never actualize into gains when the person sells the assets. In fact, this tax might force the owner to sell the asset just to raise the revenue to pay for the tax.

As was the case with Kelo, it is speculative at best to count on an unrealized gain as realized for tax purposes, and SCOTUS should back away from this idea once and for all, and take that Kelo decision with it.

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-PJ