Meanwhile, capital gains tax is lower than normal income tax because that $10k of savings you used as seed capital to start your company was "already taxed" be

Meanwhile, capital gains tax is lower than normal income tax because that $10k of savings you used as seed capital to start your company was "already taxed" before it became $10b. The problem is that there currently exists a way to acquire wealth without paying income taxes. If the wealthy would like to avoid a wealth tax, I'm sure they happily compromise by closing the loopholes after making a one time contribution of 50% of their wealth to public coffers. As an aside: I'm a startup founder in Denmark, which has a notion of a holding company. My holding company (which I seeded with 10k of savings) owns my shares in the startup. If the startup sells for 100x, my holding company will not be taxed on the on the capital gains. I can reinvest the money in a new venture without paying any capital gains. But the moment I buy a (hypothetical) Aston Martin, I pay normal income tax on the money I transfer out of the holding company. (income tax will be about 56%, cars have an extra 160% excise. A $1m fancy pants car will require $5.91m from the holding company. Ouch) This system works well, windfalls can be reinvested easily, but there's no loophole to avoid paying income tax. There is one stupid side, which is that the barrier between private and commercial uses of money needs to be excessively rigid (try setting up a non-profit makerspace where people can work on startups. pain). Additionally, 1/200th of the Danish workforce is directly employed by the tax office, which is ridiculous.