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As an accountant once told me unless you tax wealth then you can't fight this... and good luck getting an annual tax against wealth passed into law. The direct
by bradleyjg 11y ago
As an accountant once told me unless you tax wealth then you can't fight this... and good luck getting an annual tax against wealth passed into law.
The direct tax clause of the original constitution, even as modified by the sixteenth amendment, probably forbids such a thing at the federal level. So it'd likely take a constitutional amendment.
That said, I'm not quite as pessimistic as you. Between consumption taxes and estate taxes (which are about the only wealth tax we have) we could get at most money if we had the will to do so. The estate tax is filled with holes because Congress wants it to be, not because of any inherent complexity or definitional difficulties.
There is an ultimate tax avoidance strategy of renouncing citizenship and living and consuming abroad. I would impose a lifetime ban on entry on renouncers, but beyond that I think it is fair game. If you aren't an American we shouldn't be taxing you.
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoScott Sumner (commenting on John Cochrane) hinted at something similar recently: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/12/heres_john_coch.html http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/12/heres_john_coch....
- hackbinary 11y agoPeople may, and often do, renounce citizenship for other reasons than tax.
- omonra 11y agoLike what?
- hackbinary 11y agoI would say politics. Also it is my understanding that if an American would like to move to another country, and become a citizen of that country (for any number of reasons), they have to renounce their American citizenship. People moving to the United States, on the otherhand, may retain their citizenship of certain countries, such as Canada.
- omonra 11y agoThese are both untrue. I'm not aware of a single American individual who gave up their citizenship for politics (and I work in this field). Secondly, nobody has to give it up if they obtain another citizenship. US government actually makes it hard and expensive to go through this process.
- hackbinary 11y ago>> These are both untrue. >> I'm not aware of a single American individual who gave up their citizenship for politics (and I work in this field). Firstly I'm not sure which 'both' are untrue, as I had 3 points, so your response is a little confusing. Politics: There where some number of American men who where wanting dodge the American draft before it was abolished in 1973, particular in the 60 and 70s. I suspect some number of draft-dodgers renounced their American citizenship. Similarly, some number of American women did not want their children to be subject to the draft, and didn't agree with American wars, so they too moved away, and renounced their American Citizenship--I know some women for who this is absolutely the case. I also know some people who currently reside outside of the US who would renounce their American citizenship were Trump to be elected president. I would say all of these example falls under the board heading of "politics". I would agree that it is currently the policy of the US Government not to make individuals renounce their citizenship where they to become a citizen of another country, but I do not know the history. It is that other countries do make new citizen renounce their other citizenship(s); Singapore, for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renunciation_of_citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renunciation_of_citizenship Similarly, if Singapore citizen was to obtain American Citizenship, s/he would have to renounce their Singaporean Citizenship.