Flying SquidBut how would they be able to live on that?
CypherSo how does this wealth tax work? Are stock holdings taxed? Stock quantity doesn’t magically go up unlike fiat currency which governments just print more of.
None of these numbers make any sense in terms of how capital actually works. Is the government meant to take the profit in stocks? Because these billionaires aren’t selling that much stock each year and aren’t earning that much from CEO paychecks.
Not to say CEO paychecks aren’t obscene…
And what do you do when they pack up and move themselves and their companies to tax havens?
RivalarrivalIs the government meant to take the profit in stocks?
Yes.
There is no need for the billionaire to liquidate their stock in order to pay a tax in dollars. The IRS just confiscates an equal percentage of every position they hold, and liquidates it over time, selling no more than 1% of each position’s total traded volume per month, so as to not radically impact the stock price.
When they pack up and move, we say “mission accomplished”. Let them leech off an adversary’s economy.
The IRS just confiscates an equal percentage of every position they hold
Congrats there are now 3 men who can collaborate to collapse the government by shorting an insane position, have a portion of it seized, and wipe out all government revenue for a year. Sure they’d also be infinitely broke but you just gave them the lever to kill a country.
How would that possibly wipe out all government revenue for a year? The government didn’t have to buy the stock. There is no way they’d be worse off revenue wise than the current situation where there is no tax taken on these held stocks.
Position vs stock. Learn to read.
So the IRS seizes an option on the shorted position rather than the position itself, which comes due when Or, any liability for a position is assessed back to the investor rather than the government. Or any number of other rules are established to keep the IRS from assuming liability for losses.
And, of course, the three men who collaborated are charged with securities fraud and conspiracy.
Liquidators would also have rules allowing them to react to market manipulation and other artificial market influences.