'Why we need a wealth tax'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : Now if you think that public spending needs to go up to pay for better schools, or hospitals, or roads, then this is fine.
52% : First, the basic function of taxes is to raise revenue for the government.
49% : Well, there are solutions: you can have tax deferrals; you can have tax payment in instalments; also, solutions like imposing a tax cap limiting the total amount of tax that you owe as a share of your income.
48% : You might want to look at your existing instruments first - so your capital gains taxes, your inheritance and gift taxes - because there's so much scope to reform those taxes.
47% : A wealth tax could be used to reduce taxes on work.
47% : And then you're a rich guy, and all the other guys you work with are avoiding it, and then their kids are going to go to better schools than your kids, and their kids are going to have nicer houses than your kids because you chose to pay tax.
45% : And so just with income taxes, the tax burden on these very wealthy individuals might be minimal.
41% : The problem is the taxes that we have don't redistribute wealth because they're all taxes on income, and some rich people pay extremely low rates on their incomes from their wealth.

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