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A long time ago the Western world had a voluntary wealth tax of sorts, the tithe. That's 10% of your income and/or property to your church. Admittedly taxes wer
by networkimprov 6y ago
A long time ago the Western world had a voluntary wealth tax of sorts, the tithe. That's 10% of your income and/or property to your church. Admittedly taxes were then much lower, but whatever else you may think of them, churches poured vast energy and resources into social services.
Now that it's an elected government instead of an opaque non-profit providing social services, they've become unpopular with the wealthy. I suppose the government can't assure you a place in God's Kingdom :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe
Edit: certain of these are based on land, not income; see the article.
- Zak 6y agoThat's an income tax, not a wealth tax.
- Cyph0n 6y agoThe zakat in Islam is a wealth tax. It is calculated based on how much wealth you have continuously controlled over the last year.
- abiogenesis 6y agoCorrect. And it's not negligible either at 2.5% per annum according to some sources.
- bruckie 6y agoI think most people who pay a tithe base(d) it on income, not wealth, so it doesn't have the snowball effect that a wealth tax does. Islam's zakat is the only exception I know of, but IIUC even that is paid only on excess wealth.