by Robert Reich [View all]

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I debated a conservative Republican yesterday who insisted that a tax on wealth (such as suggested by Thomas Piketty) was “un-American.” He said it would be “double-taxation” since the income that created the wealth had already been taxed. I explained we already have a tax on wealth. It’s called the property tax on home values. But because homes are the major (and often sole) asset of the middle class, while most of the wealth of America’s rich is held in stocks and bonds, the property tax is regressive. So why not get rid of the property tax and substitute a broad-based wealth tax, whose revenues could be used to give all Americans a first-class education?

What do you think?

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