Bitcoin Forum

The sharp deterioration of the public finances in
many countries has revived interest in a “capital levy”—
a one-off tax on private wealth—as an exceptional
measure to restore debt sustainability. ¹
The appeal is that such a tax, if it is implemented before avoidance
is possible and there is a belief that it will never be
repeated, does not distort behavior (and may be seen
by some as fair). There have been illustrious supporters,
including Pigou, Ricardo, Schumpeter, and—until he
changed his mind—Keynes. The conditions for success
are strong, but also need to be weighed against the risks
of the alternatives, which include repudiating public
debt or inflating it away (these, in turn, are a particular
form of wealth tax—on bondholders—that also falls on
nonresidents).

There is a surprisingly large amount of experience to
draw on, as such levies were widely adopted in Europe
after World War I and in Germany and Japan after
World War II. Reviewed in Eichengreen (1990), this
experience suggests that more notable than any loss of
credibility was a simple failure to achieve debt reduction,
largely because the delay in introduction gave
space for extensive avoidance and capital flight—in turn
spurring inflation.

The tax rates needed to bring down public debt to
precrisis levels, moreover, are sizable: reducing debt
ratios to end-2007 levels would require (for a sample of
15 euro area countries) a tax rate of about 10 percent
on households with positive net wealth.²

1. As for instance in Bach (2012).

2. IMF staff calculation using the Eurosystem’s Household
Finance and Consumption Survey (Household Finance and
Consumption Network, 2013); unweighted average.

The appeal is that such a tax, if it is implemented before avoidance
is possible and there is a belief that it will never be
repeated, does not distort behavior

I don't think this is possible, there will always be people who know about it before it happens and who are able to profit from this knowledge.
Also most people won't believe that such a thing will only happen once, politicans have broken too many promises before.


Also take debt down to 2007-level? That would probably just start the progress of building debt again.
If you go to such length, why not kill all debt and don't allow it to be built up ever again.

I don't think they can tax enough...

The total debt is over the GDP...

That's the whole point about of the national debt hoax. An ever growing tax system until... until we woke up and say NO or being completely enslaved.
It's up to us to decide.

I don't think this is possible, there will always be people who know about it before it happens and who are able to profit from this knowledge.
...

You mean global debt hoax?

such levies were widely adopted in Europe after World War I and in Germany and Japan after World War II

The latest IMF idea is a one time tax on net wealth:

I'd like to float the idea of a one time transfer of bank wealth to bitcoins.

lol.  Nicely put.

It worked for me back in 2011, and it's looking like it may work almost as well for those who undertake the operation at the end of 2013 as I read the landscape.

Unfortunately it is a bit more 'one time' than I might wish due to the harassment that exchanges are undergoing in trying transferring portions of it back for the purposes of personal enjoyment.  It would/will be a happy time if/when Bitcoin becomes well enough known so that I don't need to play in fiat land in order to obtain things I like.
 
If Bitcoin continues on it's trajectory of recognition and the utility of fiat continues on it's trajectory of fail, I wonder if there will be a market space opened up for something like:

 - I pay BTC to someone who wants it and has fiat to buy me something I want in mainstream-land.

Maybe someone can put together a service which organizes such transactions.  It's a shame to need to go through such contortions here in 'the land of the free', but there it is.  Someone playing around with Bitcoin will get a real world view of how capital controls are currently much more than a theoretical future issue.

Unless it is in a highly visible form, e.g. real estate, or in an account at an institution it is pretty hard to tax wealth.  Not impossible, nor as hard as it used to be, but tough.  Expect a run on $100 bills and 500 euro notes!