No billionaire is just sitting on their money. It’s certainly tied up in assets or being actively managed.
I don’t see in what universe a wealth tax could be effective, given that people can simply move. Wouldn’t it just cause large-scale capital flight, as it did in France?
> No billionaire is just sitting on their money. It’s certainly tied up in assets or being actively managed.
Not literally sitting on them, but they are certainly not spending anywhere near as much of their money as someone who makes ~1M$ a year. A large part of their wealth is usually tied up in long term investments such as property or bonds, where it is safe but not productive.
And as I said, enforcement is a real problem, capital flight being a possible consequence. I don't know exactly what the solution is, but surely there is some better balance to be struck than today. Especially if the US government wanted to - they have enough financial and diplomatic power to enforce this type of tax almost world wide, even if California or France don't.
The U.S. has the world's police force, if they wanted to find you, they could.
And for renunciation of citizenship, there's a one time liquidation tax where you pay taxes on all of your gains (so Bezos would have to pay a flat ~20% on his Amazon holdings to renounce). So the U.S. is the only country in the world that could get away with a global wealth tax on their citizens (they already tax Americans' incomes irrespective of country).
I don’t see in what universe a wealth tax could be effective, given that people can simply move. Wouldn’t it just cause large-scale capital flight, as it did in France?