Skip to main content

THE WEALTH TAX – IT’S POSSIBLE – EVEN FAIR

PREAMBLE: It's fair; it's reasonable, but still, I don't like it.  

Did you know that we already have a form of wealth tax? It is called the property tax, sometimes referred to as the school tax. This tax is based on the value of your home. Typically, you pay a low, fixed rate per thousand dollars of assessed value. The calculation is simple: multiply the tax rate by the value of your property.

If you rent, you are not exempt. You pay this tax indirectly through your rent. You also pay it when you stay at a hotel or motel, and even if you live in a tent on land you own, you still pay property tax on that land.

Many people object to proposed “wealth taxes,” sometimes suggested at rates as high as 5 percent of net worth. Yet policymakers often overlook the fact that a wealth tax already exists in a familiar and politically accepted form. If structured carefully, such a tax could be expanded in a way that would generate additional revenue while limiting opposition to only the wealthiest individuals. Claims of unfairness would likely fade with little public attention.

The key is to make the tax rate proportional to property value but increasing as the value rises. In other words, the rate itself would scale upward with higher property values. This concept is best illustrated graphically. A straight line would represent the current system, where taxes increase linearly with property value. A curved line would represent a sliding-rate system, where higher-value properties are taxed at progressively higher rates.

By adjusting the curvature of this line, a county or school district could raise it to whatever revenue it needs—without provoking headline-grabbing controversy. The tax would remain firmly anchored to property values, a long-established and widely accepted measure. There would be no need for subjective or intrusive valuations of cars, artwork, or other difficult-to-assess assets. After all, this is how we all pay Federal income taxes. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Please Comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Lies, Deceit, and the National Agenda

The world you grew up in is no more.  The world of reasonable honesty and reasonable lies has been replaced by abject dishonesty and blatant lies. Lies.  Yes. People have always told them.  You have told them; so have I.   We need lies; they are a foundational structure of social living.  They both deceive and protect.  Children tell them to their parents to avoid consequences, like punishment.  Adults tell them to their bosses, to enhance their position and/or avoid consequences of poor performance.  Our bosses tell them to their boards to suggest business is good, the project is on target, or the detractors are wrong.  The boards tell them to shareholders to protect their own credibility and most importantly, stock values.   Our politicians tell lies to their constituents, though sometimes innocently with them not actually knowing much more than they've been told.  They enhance their positio...
2 comments
Read more

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I.                                       I.                 Introduction.                Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II.     ...
Post a Comment
Read more

UNCERTAINTY IS CERTAIN

  Uncertainty is Certain G. Donald Allen 12/12/2024 1.       Introduction . This short essay is about uncertainty in people from both secular and nonsecular viewpoints. One point that will emerge is that randomly based uncertainty can be a driver for religious structure. Many groups facing uncertainty about their future are deeply religious or rely on faith as a source of comfort, resilience, and guidance. The intersection of uncertainty and religiosity often stems from the human need to find meaning, hope, and stability in the face of unpredictable or challenging circumstances. We first take up the connections of uncertainty to religion for the first real profession, farming, noting that hunting has many similar uncertainties. Below are groups that commonly lean on religious beliefs amidst uncertainty.   This short essay is a follow-up to a previous piece on certainty (https://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2024/12/certainty-is-also-emotion.html). U...
Post a Comment
Read more