Comment by kommunicate

This argument strikes me as massively disingenuous. The central problem of the US tax system is caused by a combination of:

- high net wealth individuals essentially being indifferent to income tax.

- income tax and short term capital gains are taxed at much higher rates to long term capital gains.

- lower net wealth folks (ie. the general public) receiving most of their income as income.

- high and ultra high net wealth individuals now making most of their money through dynastic trusts and inheritance.

This combination ends up making it so that, as Warren Buffet would put it, he ends up paying a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.

I effectively don't really care if it's a wealth tax or some other more targeted technical fix, but it's not sustainable to have the very wealthiest individuals taxed at a lower effective tax rate than everyone else and also able to pass on their wealth directly to heirs without significant estate taxes.