should we be taxing earnings...or should we be taxing wealth?

[The Magistrate]

10. I Support A Wealth Tax, Sir

Mr. Smith of old made a sound point that it was pretty nigh impossible to assess what a man was worth at any given moment, which in the eighteenth century certainly was the case, and therefore argued for taxes on inheritance, since at the point of death, worth could be fixed at the act of transfer to the heir.

Nowadays, it is quite possible to fix what an individual's wealth, the sum of real properties, securities, etc. that he owns, on practically a second by second basis. So a tax levied on a quarterly basis, say, would be quite feasible. Regulations would have to be drawn with some ingenuity to hamper attempts to write-down or otherwise disown the value of assets a person continued to control, and a fairly high threshold for liability established, to avoid netting much out of people owning a home or a decent retirement fund or a genuine 'mom and pop' business. The rate would have to be pitched rather lower than you seem to suggest, unless one is willing to face up to it and say the intention is confiscatory. I can see sound arguments for confiscatory rates, certainly, but there would need to be a major restructuring of the economic and social system for that....