# Progressive proposal for wealth taxes--why not just do this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressive-proposal-for-wealth-taxes-why-not-just-do-this/953812>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 4, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressive-proposal-for-wealth-taxes-why-not-just-do-this/953812 "2021-11-04T20:29:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 25

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**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressive-proposal-for-wealth-taxes-why-not-just-do-this/953812/25 "2021-11-05T16:47:29Z")

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> [@wguy123](#):
>
> Millions of us do pay taxes on unrealized gains in the forms of increased property taxes. I bought my house for a third of what is assessed at now and I’m paying tax rates on a modern assessment, not what I bought it for.

Property is a tangible thing that creates a continuous flow of services. A property tax is essentially a tax on the value of that flow of services that the property creates, kind of like a sales tax when purchasing a good.

Taxing paper wealth, just for existing, is something else entirely.

It is a [spectacularly bad idea](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socialism-or-at-least-a-version-thereof-vs-capitalism/927389/12) for reasons that are difficult to explain in brief. It represents a thorough misunderstanding of what taxation actually is.

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