What if we had a wealth tax on equity grants where you had to pay tax based on the value of your equity in a privately held company? Would you like to be forced to sell your equity to pay taxes?
Would you like to have to pay taxes on your equity after every series of funding raises the paper value of your equity?
Or if you hold stock and don’t sell it, would you like to have to pay tax every time the value of your stock increases or when you sell it?
That sounds like an interesting proposal but I don't know why we'd want to encourage people to sell their investments in companies. Long term investments in businesses help the economy grow. Fencing off land and not allowing other citizens access to it has several negative externalities (eg. what we're going through in California now).
From a tax policy standpoint it would be the same thing -- you're taxing wealth instead of capital gains. We don't do that for any other asset class.
But, if you're "investing" in a public company by buying stock, unless its at the IPO, the money isn't going to the company, it's going to someone else who owns the stock, the same could be said if you force people to sell private investments to other people.
No, I'm not proposing we tax wealth instead of income and capital gains.
I think it would actually be positive for other places in the country if companies decide to open offices outside of California to locations where everything is cheaper.
Would you like to have to pay taxes on your equity after every series of funding raises the paper value of your equity?
Or if you hold stock and don’t sell it, would you like to have to pay tax every time the value of your stock increases or when you sell it?