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The Supreme Court May Preemptively Ban a Federal Wealth Tax (newrepublic.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in 2021, two of the Moores’ lawyers also declared unambiguously that the lawsuit “stands to slam shut the door on a federal wealth tax like the one Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to enact.” They made a direct pitch to “the courts” to hear the Moores’ case “now” to make it easier to block a wealth tax in the future.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The tax implications are far beyond my life experience as someone who qualifies for the 1040EZ form every year lol

I'm not sure if this was a Trumpian Easter egg bomb that was planted and waiting to be discovered for the purpose of further eroding the federal government's ability to raise funds through the IRS. That does sound like it comes from the conservative playbook, but the way this particular case has played out sounds like it required far more foresight than what Trump and his sycophants could have devised without external help.

You make an excellent case about the taxation on value for homes taking place at the municipal level, but the case for stocks is at the federal level, so I can see why business dealings might fall under the scope of federal taxation.

I think if this particular court case was only about the scope of the 16th amendment, then it would be a bit more cut and dry. However, the lawyers for the Moores are also pushing rhetoric that this court decision should also be instrumental in guiding and shaping future legislation on wealth tax and that is so incredibly unethical and problematic. That is not the role of the court and should not be one of its aims.

Because two things are at issue here, I find it hard to pick a side to root for: yes, defeat for the Moores so the law stands and proposals for future wealth tax legislation aren't encumbered by this decision; or yes, a tax policy part of an otherwise regressive tax system implemented by an authoritarian criminal is defeated to really stick it in that guy's eye, but now Pandora's box is opened for nearly all taxation on wealth to have new precedent set and possibly stymy good, progressive legislation proposals.