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

[whatthehey]

36. Both as we do.

Income is easier as the mechanisms and processes for that are firmly established. Most states tax homes and cars as property, most often at a higher rate based on value.

To expand the idea of taxing wealth there would have to be a similar system to assess and levy takes on other property. It's tough to hide a house, and you have to register cars to use them. It's right now a bit tougher to assess bank balance or value held in stocks, bonds etc but probably doable although privacy advocates would gripe. It's much harder to assess wealth in jewels, precious metals, etc without Gestapo-like tactics. And what if your wealth is in business ownership? A hotel or restaurant, say, may be "worth" many millions but only generate a modest net profit. How can you tax the former beyond the latter without forcing sales, a clear overarching grasp of government?

To me the current setup works well as a process; it simply needs to be more progressive in such that not only should people making higher incomes pay higher rates as they theoreticall do now but in practice often not, but people owning higher end homes and cars should pay a higher rate, not just higher amount, of property taxes. Add that to luxury taxes on high end purchases such as say clothing over $500 or meals over $50 or cars over $100,000. and a finacial transaction tax of just a few pennies per buy or sell on any traded financial instrument and we'll be doing ok.