The plaintiffs’ arguments in Moore v. United States have little basis in law — unless you think that a list of long-ago-discarded laissez-faire decisions from the early 20th century remain good law. And a decision favoring these plaintiffs could blow a huge hole in the federal budget. While no Warren-style wealth tax is on the books, the Moore plaintiffs do challenge an existing tax that is expected to raise $340 billion over the course of a decade.
But Republicans also hold six seats on the nation’s highest Court, so there is some risk that a majority of the justices will accept the plaintiffs’ dubious legal arguments. And if they do so, they could do considerable damage to the government’s ability to fund itself.
Didn’t Teddy Roosevelt implement wealth taxes via the Estate Tax and Capital Gains Tax?
These aren’t exactly new ideas. We’ve just slowly dismantled them over the past decades.
No, because taxes aren’t levied until after estates are transferred or dividends are paid. Yes, the idea has been out there for a while and there are very good economic and social reasons to impose wealth taxes that other nations have already figured out and implemented, but we’re…exceptional. So exceptional that we’ll let our exceptionalism drive us into the ground.