> Many places currently have property taxes (a type of wealth tax) and they tend to work well.
Don't forget inheritance tax/estate tax! It's a wealth tax, just applied after (or near to) death.
Don't forget inheritance tax/estate tax! It's a wealth tax, just applied after (or near to) death.
An annual wealth tax of ~1% doesn't come with the same complications - just like income tax, it can be predicted, saved for, etc.
Also most people with sizable estates (who have some idea they'll die in the next several years) can gift away or otherwise arrange to avoid estate taxes pretty successfully, so I don't think of them as especially useful.
I don't worry about it too much since estate taxes are usually on quite large estates (>$5mil), but I just don't see it as a very good tax.