Comment by ceejayoz
2 days ago
> Net worth is not real.
Good way to find out it this is the case: take it away. Not real, right? Why would they mind?
2 days ago
> Net worth is not real.
Good way to find out it this is the case: take it away. Not real, right? Why would they mind?
> Good way to find out it this is the case: take it away. Not real, right? Why would they mind?
Take what away? I'm saying if I own 51% of Tesla, you cannot tell what amount of money that amounts to until I sell it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%24TSLA
C'mon, man. We know Musk's net worth. It's public knowledge!
>We know Musk's net worth
No we don't.
>It's public knowledge!
No it's not. We estimate his net worth based on public filings. We know next to nothing about his nonpublic holdings.
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There is no way to take anything like that. Net worth is quite similar with me saying you are worth 1 billion dollars, but you have zero money in the bank. What do you take, super-rich billionaire person?
The net worth is simply the sum of assets minus the sum of liabilities. Take away the assets and you take away the net worth. I can't think of an asset category that you can't transfer if you are willing to sacrifice its value (which presumably doesn't matter, because it's not real anyways)
In the rare cases where contract law makes the transfer impossible legally the government could trivially step in to make it possible
You take control of the shares and distribute the proceeds and make it impossible to leverage them for loans, credit etc.
Is it Zuck's networth or salary that makes it possible for him to own his ranch in Hawaii?
which thing of mine are you saying is worth a billion dollars? the lawnmower? take that then?
whats the complication? if its not worth anything whos gonna worry, especially if the government then compensates you in dollars
Your 1 billion dollar dog that will die 2 days after someone takes it from you. Tax that, please.
Why not? Net worth is the estimated sell value of a list of assets. It is entirely possible to take those assets, or charge a tax based on that estimated sell value. Why would it even be a little difficult, let alone impossible?
And certainly ceejayoz was being a bit glib by suggesting we take all of it, but it would not be remotely insurmountable to tax billionaire wealth.
Net worth is the estimated value, not sell value. For example, Tesla shares owned by Elon don't have the same value if Elon is leaving, they are less worthy.
1 reply →
Because that would involve seizing assets? The parent meant it's not "real" in the simple-minded sense that people think it is: the average person imagines Elon Musk and other billionaires have a checking account that keeps increasing by tens of thousands of dollars per second because that's the only frame of reference they have. The reality is the wealth is mostly tied up in assets that ain't exactly liquid. Yes yes, they apparently have access to this supposed infinite money glitch where banks will endlessly loan them money without requiring interest payments (which would require liquidating assets for payment and therefore triggering a taxable event, the very thing people think never happens for billionaires). But the fact of the matter is the wealth isn't money in a bank, and therefore not "real" in the sense the parent was referring to. But it is at the same time something they would miss if it was just "taken away", much the same way you'd miss the numbers in your 401k if voters decided you had a few too many millions saved up for retirement.
the government seizes dollars in the form of taxes, which are still assets, no?
these other assets like musk's stocks are still quite divisible, and theyre as liquid as the government wants them to be. just because musk hasnt written the liquidity into his government sponsored contracts doesnt mean the government cant say yes, 10% of your private spaceX stock is liquid and belongs to donald trump now
its real and thus it is taxable
No, dollars are not assets.
> Because that would involve seizing assets?
Oh, are those real now?
Assets are real, but not the valuation of them. This sort of basic error, which seems to only appear on the "tax net worth" side, is good evidence that this is not a reasoned position, and thus you will not be reasoned out of it.
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