My main concern with a wealth tax

  I would want to tell Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and any other advocate of the wealth tax that a wealth tax will make the rich less rich, but it will make every stock holder less rich as well, and it would cause the American economy to collapse if companies become worthless.

 why would you think that? if the uber rich sell stocks, other people buy them. that is how the stock market works. 

If a billionaire selling a tiny fraction of his stocks tanks a stock price, then it wasn't actually worth the price it was selling for

I say create a millionaires tax bracket, and seriously increase the estate tax.

I'd say repeal the income tax and replace it with a sales tax and a capitol gains tax.  Rich people barely pay anything in income tax since Jeff Bezos's annual cash salary is only around $80K a year(How Much Does Jeff Bezos Make a Second? (marketrealist.com)), so his income isn't that high.  He is only rich because of his stock.

If the ultra rich sell their stocks, since the supply to demand ratio of stocks in the stock market would skyrocket, the price of the stock would plummet and if the stock market ceases to grow because the rich are spamming stock into the stock market, people lose their desire to invest and as a result

 by trying to help the common man out, you instead have deprived them of all their stock's value.

if that were to happen, then that isn't a problem with a tax, it is a problem with the market. I.e. if the uber rich needing to sell a portion of their stocks causes the price of a stock to crash, then the stock was never worth that much to begin with. That is a market problem. So the tax would just be exposing a flaw that already exists. 

The "common man" doesn't own that many stocks. A large percentage of the population owns no stocks at all. 

But then the increased revenue from the wealth tax can be used to help the "common man".

And that would help the "common man" far, far more than what that might lose when the stock market corrects itself. 

If the stock of every company crashes, then our economy is destroyed and we go into a depression.

For that common man, they own stock with the assumption that it would go up, and if it crashes, they end up selling all of their stock, and you've basically destroyed $30 trillion worth of wealth in the country.

But then the increased revenue from the wealth tax can be used to help the "common man".

You've destroyed all the wealth.

 If the government sells tens of billions of shares of stock all at once, there will be a huge influx of supply, which causes the price to plummet and the government gets pennies on the dollar of stock value. 

 At best, America goes into a depression.  At worst, the whole world does.  I imagine the latter scenario is more likely

The stock won't correct its self.  We would go into a depression and I don't know how we are going to get out of it.

the vast, vast majority of stocks are owned by the uber rich. The "common man" doesn't own that many stocks. A large percentage of the population owns no stocks at all. So saying you are "depriving the common man" doesn't make much sense. 

he common man actually does own stock these days through retirement accounts.

The $150k in the 401k of 60 year old Joe working class may not represent a huge portion of the US market cap, but it’s a big deal to him. Outside of social security and maybe a house it’s probably all he has and a large stock market crash would actually hurt him more than the Uber wealthy who lose millions on paper but see no actual decline in lifestyle 

45% of americans own no stocks at all. who are they if not the "common man"?

i'm not arguing that a market crash is a good thing. It obviously isn't. But if the wealthy being forced to sell of a small percentage of their shares causes those shares to fall, then the problem isn't the tax. it is the fact that market has over valued the stocks. Your argument does not actually argue that a wealth tax is bad. It argues that the fact that it might reveal structural problems in the economy is bad. But those problems would exist either way. Revealing such problems doesn't mean the tax would be a bad idea. especially if the profits of the tax are then used to help the "common man". The large majority of people would end up better off.

45% of americans own no stocks at all. who are they if not the "common man"?

Where are you getting that number? 

I’m not happy about it, but the entire American  system basically is predicated on the big line going up. A permanent or long term stock market crash would harm the average person more than the wealthy even if they don’t hold as much. Joe Six Packs $100k turning into $65k is a much bigger deal than Robert Bruce III’s $10 mil turning into $6.5 mil. 

Before supporting a policy that would place permanent and extremely strong downward pressure on stock prices you’d need to find some way to decouple average Americans with the stock market.

All this assumes that the tax would be successful at taking their wealth which I doubt it would. In the long run the state would probably get less revenue.

but that doesn’t mean trying to take his wealth would actually solve the problem, as opposed to creating even more.

Would it be better if Zuckerberg gave most his wealth to the poor and kept only a measly billion dollars, yes. But would a wealth tax actually force him to liquidate his assets, or would they just be moved overseas?

this isn't the same source i was using for my last post (i don't remember precisely which one i was looking at). But here is a different one saying that 52% of americans "have some market investment mostly from owning retirement accounts such as 401(k)s." So according to the federal reserves most recent info (2016), about 48% of americans own no stocks whatsoever. 

I don't understand why you would think it would be a permanent downward pressure? Having the uber rich need to sell of stocks would shake up the market, that is true. It would create some uncertainty and result in downward stocks prices (because the market hates uncertainty). But then the market would get used to it and it would get priced in. Then the downward pressure is resolved. Having more stocks being traded doesn't mean the stocks are worth any less. And if it does cause the stocks to be worth less, it is because the market was over valuing them. Which, again, is not a flaw of a wealth tax. It is just exposing the flaws of the market that already exist. 

it would solve lots of problems. It would make lots of projects attainable. Things like universal health care, educational programs etc would be able to be funded. It would be hugely beneficial to the "common man" who routinely gets screwed over with massive debts trying to get an education or healthcare.

the beauty of a wealth tax is that it doesn't matter if he moves his assets overseas. US tax law already says that US citizens are subject to US taxes no matter where in the world they are. So if he is a US citizen and he has wealth, then it could be taxed no matter where in the world it is. European countries didn't really use this method, so millionaires could just move to another country and dodge the tax. But that wouldn't work for an american wealth tax. The only way to dodge it is to renounce your citizenship. But that has huge business and personal implications. Also, depending on which tax plan you take, you can implement an "exit tax" as part of the plan. IE if you are a billionaire and you renounce your US citizenship, you must pay a tax of X% (for example Elizabeth warren's plan was 40%). This would make doing this much less desirable. 

Another flaw in European efforts was that they built in loopholes. They made exceptions for things that were harder to value (art, antiques etc). So rich people could pour their money into the exempted categories of stuff and dodge the tax too. If you create a wealth tax without those exemptions, it is harder to dodge. 

My only objection is against the idea that the fortunes of the typical American aren't related to the stock market, that it only matters for rich people.

The majority of the megabillionaires like Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos gained their wealth through an ownership stake in a company they created that became huge. If there's a wealth tax, Bezos isn't likely to dump all of his shares in Amazon at once but would presumably liquidate the amount required to pay the tax every year. This would create a constant stream of new shares entering the market every year at tax time. Obviously that would create downward pressure

Personally, I feel that a marginal tax rate of 45% for income over $500k a year is more than fair, and not nearly high enough to damage the economy. I would prefer higher marginal income tax rates to a wealth tax any day

If I'm a very rich US citizen and I own a company incorporated in Germany I don't think the German government would look too kindly on the US government demanding to take a bite out of that company every year.

 I imagine people would find a way around that exit tax (is it even legal to tax someone for renouncing their citizenship? By what authority, since they are no longer a citizen?)

I see no reason to encourage the uber wealthy to leave...I understand the bitterness over inequality but you're so much better off creating a more equitable society through higher taxes on wealth created in the future and pro-worker reforms instead of blowing up the whole system. 

I don't see this as a loophole so much as a necessity. How much is a particular Picasso painting worth at auction? You have no clue until its ACTUALLY auctioned!

They simply have too much leverage on the US government.

That said it does bother me that there’s essentially a wealth tax on the middle class via property taxes! My property taxes are so high that I basically pay two mortgages, but the mega billionaires can see their wealth steadily grow and only realize taxes when they sell.

It’s better to focus on helping future wealth be captured more equitably through progressive taxes 

pro worker reforms like ending outsourcing

not requiring incredibly expensive college degrees to do anything, etc.