Wealth taxes on stocks and bonds - Richard Wolff [Global Capitalism]

This is a clip from the March 2021 Global Capitalism lecture by Richard D. Wolff in which he discusses the new wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren, why it's not irregular, why it's modest at best, and why there is such strong resistance to it.

"Anyone who tells you that we don't already have a wealth tax does not know what they are talking about or they are lying to you... I hope you are asking, ‘Why in the world would we have a wealth tax on the kind of wealth the average person maybe can get (a home, a car, a piece of land on which the home sits), but the wealth of the wealthiest (stocks and bonds) not taxed?’ And you know the answer, don't you? It's because they're the wealthiest. They got it set up that way. It's a wonderful tax dodge for them. That's all it is. That's all it ever was..." - Richard Wolff

This lecture was titled "March 2020-March 2021: Covid and the Crash" and featured an analysis of the last year of pandemic and economic crisis. Professor Wolff also gave short updates on: who lost what; who gained what; where is the US economy headed now; and lastly, political fallout: revisiting the January 6 DC assault.

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Learn more about Prof Wolff's NEW BOOK, "The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself." Now also available as an eBook!

“A magnificent source of hope and insight.”
Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist, academic, philosopher, politician, author

Check out Prof. Wolff's other books "Understanding Socialism" and "Understanding Marxism"
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[ninaahmadvand]

We desperately need more intellectuals like Prof Wolff. Thank you for existing and please keep speaking!

[jerryjones]

How many mansions, yachts, private jets, and sport vehicles does one person really need? The stock market is a racket.

[radhakrishna]

We need to tax not just on
Bonds and stocks....
But also.. So-called Charity foundations... Like Bill Gates...

[EliaMarc]

I always liked how Richard Wolff pronounces the word "does".

[DanA-nluo]

Actually it is even worse the working class is taxed for their debt with property taxes and vehicle taxes. You take a mortgage or car loan and are taxed for the full value of the asset as though the debt wasn't a liability. But the people who own stocks and bonds actually own the asset before they would be taxed.

[abqmalenurse]

Excellent explanation. I had not considered this and usually do look at things in detail. Thank you!

[SuperDarski]

I paid $149, 000 for my house about a year ago and my property tax is about $1, 600 / year, so I pay a "wealth" tax of about 1.07%. I'm not rich though so I needed a mortgage to buy the house, so my equity is only about $45, 000, that being my actual wealth, the tax is actually 3.55%.

[reverenceforall]

The hue and the cry show how effective the propaganda of the billionaires is and how ill-informed the masses are.

[indricotherium]

I do strongly object to the use of the term 'wealth tax' for a tax that only kicks in at $50m. This is a superwealth tax. Warren's inappropriate language may be deliberate because it distorts general public perceptions, removes focus from a whole bigger class of wealthy people and jeopardises legislative initiatives for taxes on real-world wealth. PLS SEE follow up comment from me below.

[carlosencarnacion]

In Puerto Rico, property taxes are not paid on your principal home or dwelling, if you own a second or more homes, those will pay property taxes on those. I believe the exemption on your principal home will go as high as $200, 000.00. So what will USA do, have Puerto Rico law derogated or imitated?

[mwalsh]

Ahhhh so I truely luv to learn.... bravo! Regards. Matt

[richardruss]

BECAUSE it only affects the very wealthy, is the reason it will almost assuredly NOT pass.

[rtsorenson]

Professor Wolff, you stated, "she's (Sen. Warren) correcting a grotesque injustice." Of all the Economists you're one of my favorites, yet you along with most, if not all of the other economists, ignore the original sin, or injustice if you will. Let's examine what that original sin is by examining where government and money derive their power from.

Government derives its power from each and every citizen, whether it be when the government is first formed or the continuation of said formed government on a day-to-day basis. Each citizen gives some of their individual power to form or continue said government; therefore, in a vacuum, or say a world without money, each citizen is an equal owner of said government and anything that results from the formation - continuation of said government. Let's keep that last bit in the back of our minds and now examine where money gets its power from.

Well, money derives its power from the government which should be equally owned by each citizen; therefore, each and every citizen, say of the United States, should be the owner of the Federal Reserve and the resulting private banks like Wells Fargo, Citi, Chase, etcetera.

Now, let me introduce a novel concept, unity. If every citizen decides to be unified in all investments for the society, they are all equal owners of every asset resulting from the government. Now, if we're all equal owners of all the income-producing assets, does it make sense to have inflation, aka price gouging, resulting from an imbalance of equity where a minority of unequal owners abuses the majority of non-owners? Would we be talking about a wealth tax if we were all equal owners of the government and resulting businesses? No.


What's the original sin? Usurping the power and equity in the government by securing a monopoly from the majority of the citizens for a small, tiny minority.

Now, correct for this theft of equity globally and were all equal owners of the global system. We could decide on a global basic income for all citizens at say 100 or 200K per year. Purchasing the ownership from existing owners could be financed by OUR monetary system and if everyone spends their weekly income, thus increasing global money velocity, a modest 10% tax and rents we all pay to be in our homes that go back into our collective ownership of the entire system will pay of the debt created to buy out the current equity holders. This would enable everyone to be able to afford environmentally friendly technology for transportation and energy to power our homes. We could afford to fix our climate crisis immediately. Notice, I'm not talking about taxing the wealth, rather I am talking about taking back the equity in the money system to finance (grow our way out of the current predicament) the purchase of all assets for common ownership.

Finally, since all economists ignore the original sin, is this fact a function of the wealthy minority controlling the educational system? Democracy it seems is a divide and conquer exercise designed to keep the citizens whose equity was usurped busy voting every couple of years while trying to stay above water month in and month out, doesn't it? The Adversarial System, the LAW, when you think about how it functions seems to be a protection scheme designed to protect the minority with all the equity that was usurped from the majority.

Tell me what you think Professor Wolff. Keep up the great work.

[xmifi]

The sheeps are outraged at the wolf tax. How dare you put a tax on how much the wolf can freely take.

[notrueflagshere]

Wealth tax is good. Estate tax is good.Import tariffs are good. Corporate taxes good. Personal income taxes bad.

[DanA-nluo]

Richard Wolf needs to run for president in 2024 as the people's party candidate.

[johnoriel]

Florida used to have what they called the intangible tax, which was exactly what she is describing, but the Republicans eliminated it.

[jgalt]

What is the value of the property you propose to tax? Remembering that the money
used to purchase it has already been taxed. A lot of peo[ple, like Wolff will find this
confusing...but if the property being tax is not "producing income" where does one acquire
the funds to pay taxes on it?

[jeffwalther]

I think you are full of bullshit? I am blind and I live off of my 401K that, thanks to Trump, I am now paying 20% tax on. And I have never made more the $65K in salary throughout my career.

[markconway]

Why do people think politicians disappear into the distance with huge wealth they can't account for, especially from parties that are supposed to represent the poor?