If you have wealth anywhere over say, $50 million, you hire an accountant to assess your business’s value.
‘Oh, our accountant says the valuation is just under the threshold for the new tax, what a coincidence!’
It is trivially easy to shift assets around in such a way that having a net worth threshold for a given tax is basically a guarantee that no one will pay it. Many countries have tried this already, and failed. Why repeat their mistakes, instead of learning from them?
We need to remember that people, and especially the ultra-wealthy, are not inert blocks of wood that don’t react to policy changes like these.
I’m calling bullshit on this. There are all sorts of taxes that fall heavily or solely on the wealthy.
Firstly, I said “only the wealthiest”, so don’t already start nudging those goalposts by “calling bullshit” and immediately tweaking it to “heavily or solely”. Secondly, if there are so many, name three.
‘Oh, our accountant says the valuation is just under the threshold for the new tax, what a coincidence!’
Well that’s your risk to take. No different than if you cook your books now and claim lower income than you actually have. We don’t throw up our hands and conclude we can’t tax the wealthy. Maybe we need to seriously reform corporate charter law, and do things like prohibit corporations from themselves owning subsidiary companies. Reforms like that could prevent a lot of tax-dodging shenanigans.
‘Oh, our accountant says the valuation is just under the threshold for the new tax, what a coincidence!’
It is trivially easy to shift assets around in such a way that having a net worth threshold for a given tax is basically a guarantee that no one will pay it. Many countries have tried this already, and failed. Why repeat their mistakes, instead of learning from them?
We need to remember that people, and especially the ultra-wealthy, are not inert blocks of wood that don’t react to policy changes like these.
Firstly, I said “only the wealthiest”, so don’t already start nudging those goalposts by “calling bullshit” and immediately tweaking it to “heavily or solely”. Secondly, if there are so many, name three.
Well that’s your risk to take. No different than if you cook your books now and claim lower income than you actually have. We don’t throw up our hands and conclude we can’t tax the wealthy. Maybe we need to seriously reform corporate charter law, and do things like prohibit corporations from themselves owning subsidiary companies. Reforms like that could prevent a lot of tax-dodging shenanigans.