by Robert Reich

[elleng]

Conservatives complain about the non-working poor, but most of America’s poor work hard, often in two or more jobs. The real non-workers are the wealthy who inherit their fortunes, and their ranks about to explode. U.S. Trust bank just released a poll of Americans with more than $3 million of investable assets, and found a huge generational shift: Over 60 percent of wealthy boomers, born in the middle of the last century, earned most of their wealth. But a majority of wealthy millennials, under the age of 35, inherited theirs. A non-working aristocracy (predicted by Thomas Piketty) is antithetical to American values and dangerous to our democracy. What to do? (1) restore the estate tax (before George W. Bush, it kicked in at $2 million of assets per couple, with a 55% rate; now it kicks in at $10 million per couple, at 40%); (2) eliminate the “stepped-up-basis on death” rule that allows heirs to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the increased value of assets they inherit; and (3) institute a wealth tax. We already have a yearly wealth tax on homes, the major asset of the middle class; it’s called the property tax. Why not a small annual tax on the value of stocks and bonds, the major assets of the wealthy?

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[Doctor_J]

1. The truth is that the super- and hyper-rich could be the only ones effected

The wealth tax of which he speaks could kick in at 10 or 15 or even 50 million and still serve the purpose. And then raise the fica cap. Our "representatives" are gutless psychopaths who no longer have any connection to working people. Speaking of millionaires who don't work....

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

2. Duh. Taxes are theft. And it's only OK to steal from poor people.

[dougolat]

3. Looking at property tax as a wealth tax is a crucial insight!

All my life I've seen people lose their homes to property taxes, usually old folks, but younger people who inherit a home in arrears, too.
Used to think they were stupid, like "You can't see that coming? "

But now I get it: fixed income, can't do overtime or a side job like before. Utilities and Medicare co-pays cost more than you ever imagined they could, so you live with some pains that really should get looked at, and you try setting the thermostat at 50 (a watch-cap, fingerless gloves, and multiple socks- but look out for the plumbing freezing) but you can't be sure of saving a month-and-half's income every year - and there you are: walking the plank.

Yeah, we have a wealth tax.