Wealth Tax

The primary value of a wealth tax is not the revenue it brings to the government, though this would be considerable. The primary value is the reduction of wealth of the excessively wealthy, which reduces their power and influence over government and society and preventing them so thoroughly subverting democracy.

As companies also exert political influence, to the detriment of democracy, they too should be subject to the wealth tax.

The wealth tax should begin at a net worth greater than 250 times the median net worth of people in the country. 

All people and companies with a greater net worth than this should be required to file annual, independently audited financial accounts and these should be made public. 

Filing such financial statements below this threshold should be voluntary. 

To encourage compliance, the cost of preparing the statements should be fully tax deductible and the penalty for failing to file the statements should be a minimum of 10% of net worth for a first offense and 20% of net worth for a repeat offense. And upon conviction, the prior 10 years of financial activity should be independently audited at the expense of the offender, with any prior offenses punished retroactively.

The wealth tax itself should begin at 2% of net worth, increasing linearly to 10% of net worth at a net worth of 5000 times the median net worth of people in the country and fixed at 10% of net worth above 1000 times the median net worth.

To put this in perspective with concrete numbers, the median net worth in the United States in 2026 is approximately USD$200,000. The median net worth in Canada in 2026 is approximately CAD$330,000. The median net worth in the United Kingdom in 2029 is approximately £124,700.

For example, in the United States, the wealth tax would begin at 2% at a net worth of $50,000,000 ($50 million) and increase to 10% at a net worth of $1,000,000,000 ($1 billion). In the United States there are approximately 200,000 individuals with a net worth above $50 million and approximately 1,000 individuals with a net worth above $1 billion, out of a total population of approximately 350 million people. The wealth tax would affect approximately 0.06% of the population. It would still allow great disparity of wealth but would curtail the extreme accumulation of wealth at a rate that is significant within a generation (i.e. approximately 20 to 30 years).