There is an argument for taxing wealth rather than income.
Wealth represents the accumulation of past contribution to society. Income represents present and ongoing contribution to society, the creation of new wealth.
Which does it make more sense to tax?
Taxing income instead of wealth is just fine with wealthy people. It helps prevent uncouth newcomers from also becoming wealthy. As with so many many government programs, it’s a way of protecting the haves against competition from the wannabees.
Much wealth is not easily divisible for turning fractions over to the govt annually. Much wealth is also productive for the economy. A wealth tax is a property tax which we already have in excess in many locales. What we need is an hours of your life tax from everybody, not just the rich.
We actually agree about something.
“Taxing income instead of wealth is just fine with wealthy people. It helps prevent uncouth newcomers from also becoming wealthy. As with so many many government programs, it’s a way of protecting the haves against competition from the wannabees.” -——
I needed to let that sink in a little bit. It’s worth remembering.