From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   BTR1701  wrote:   
      
   >Since Gen-Z almost universally doesn't seem to grasp this concept and why it's   
   >an abomination, here's an explainer of California's proposed wealth tax.   
      
   I've ranted about this stuff on Usenet for decades. You've ignored it   
   all.   
      
   Wealth, in the form of personal property, is consumed, depreciates,   
   deteriorates, or is depleted. You came up with the unusual example of   
   a collectible or an antiquity or a work of art, whose value increased   
   despite entropy.   
      
   Wealth is the product of man, not nature. It fulfills human needs and   
   desires.   
      
   You earn wages from your own labor. You save a portion for your future   
   consumption and you spend a portion for immediate consumption. You   
   purchase goods, which are wealth.   
      
   Some wealth is capital, that is, wealth in the production of other   
   wealth. Examples are a factory, tools, and equipment. Inventory is   
   capital until it's sold, when it becomes the wealth of its purchaser.   
      
   Why the hell should any of this be taxed? The wealth you consume, the   
   wealth you possess, all came from your own work. Even though it's   
   morally wrong, govenment taxes your wages from labor, your purchase of   
   wealth, also from wages, and when you consume or merely possess wealth.   
      
   In your second example, the elderly woman's home has not become more   
   valuable. It's needed maintenance, replacement, and rebuiiding.   
      
   The land became more valuable because of society, having neighbors who   
   have higher incomes or who built larger homes, and the quality of   
   transportation and other infrastructure. You can make the bulding more   
   valuable by expanding it or re-equipping for a specific purpose, but   
   your actions don't make your own land more valuable.   
      
   The building, the home, the factory, is wealth and should be treated   
   like personal property and not taxed. It's the product of man.   
      
   Taxing land is not immoral because its value was created by society.   
      
   If the elderly woman is out of cash to pay property taxes, my state and   
   plenty of other states allow the taxes to be deferred till the property   
   is sold. There is a state fund that receives the tax bill, paying it   
   when due, and charges interest. There is a lien. She's not forced to   
   move.   
      
   Moral dilemna solved.   
      
   >. . .   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)