When Columbia Taxed Wealth, The Wealthy Started Lying About Their Assets
51 minutes ago
How should the government make sure the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes? One old, and hotly debated idea, is to impose a wealth tax, ensuring that the rich pay not just on their income, but on what they already have.
Advocates of wealth taxes in the U.S. argue that under the current system, the ultra-rich pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than working-class people. Even billionaires have complained of the disparity, with Warren Buffet having once famously pointed out that he has a lower tax rate than his secretary.
President Joe Biden proposed a version of a wealth tax in 2022 when he called for people with $100 million or more in assets to pay an income tax of at least 20%, an idea that never became law.
But what happens in real life when you try to tax the…
