No way. Aside from being unconstitutional, it’s a terrible idea, for a lot of reasons:
If you think the IRS is intrusive now, just wait until it has to determine not just everything you make, but also everything you own. And can you imagine filling out a tax return?
Do we really want to punish saving and investing even more? And how about the elderly who have saved for retirement? Do we want to push even more of them into dependence on Social Security?
Do you think the “wealth tax” would continue to apply only the very wealthy? Just remember that when the income tax was introduced in 1913, only 1% of the population paid income taxes.
As bad as an income tax is, a wealth tax is far worse.
Well there is the rub, no?
But I'm thinking about douche bags like Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg, etc., etc., and how they are all in favor on RAISING the income tax and opposed to a tax cut, while at the same time having an army of accountants to whittle away their own "incomes", it boils my blood.
So, yeah, if it starts defining wealth at the middle class level, or even rich (because millionaires aren't nearly as wealthy as billionaires like the names listed above), then the whole thing falls apart.
Still, everything can be a slippery slope when due diligence is not followed. There are so many things that have been corrupted over the long years.