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Wealth can be concealed. Income passes hands. You can “see” the transfer.
by perfmode 8y ago
Wealth can be concealed. Income passes hands. You can “see” the transfer.
- ball_of_lint 8y agoExcept that you can be paid in cash and buy things with cash and leave no hard evidence of your income. Most illegal things are impossible to completely prevent but the punishments keep many from doing them anyways.
- whamlastxmas 8y agoThe incredible vast majority of major purchases cannot be done in an untraceable manner. Cars, yachts, planes, property, art. The businesses that sell these items necessitate a paper trail. And because you cannot spend more than the income you have been taxed on (minus legal gifting limits which again have a paper trail) it is extremely difficult to hide your income without leaving an obvious trail from the expensive things you buy
- perfmode 8y agoI’m not arguing from absolutes. I’m saying that there is something inherent in income that makes it more visible than wealth.
- hliyan 8y agoTrue. That is a practical issue. But would you say in ideal terms, wealth is a better measure than income? Also, if you can see transfer, why not take the differential between income and expenditure, which should be the retained wealth?
- ardy42 8y ago> Wealth can be concealed. Income passes hands. You can “see” the transfer. Wealth is pretty useless when it's so concealed, and the use of concealed wealth would send detectable signals to tax authorities that there's something to investigate.