10-23-2013, 10:30 PM
(10-23-2013, 07:28 PM)kandrathe Wrote: If instead, we just looked at the value of stuff owned (wealth), and assessed a relatively small, flat tax on that, I think it would get closer to fair. The estimated net worth of all US stuff is about $245 trillion. A %1.6 flat tax on wealth would result in the tax revenue we have now. The median net worth of households in 2010 was 80,000, resulting in an average tax of $1300 per household.
The estimated net wealth of the US is about $57 trillion. To generate that kind of revenue, you'd need a 4.3% tax on wealth. The distortionary effects of that kind of tax would be quite extreme.
Quote:For example, GE is worth about $265 billion, and would pay about $4.3 billion in taxes, rather than the zero they paid in 2010 (having 14.2 billion in profits). Their 10 year effective rate has been 1.8% on $81 billion in profits since 2002.
So, you're taxing GE for its total worth, and its stockholders and bondholders again for their ownership of that same worth? Or what?
-Jester