How about neither? But that’s a long discussion.

A couple reasons that I am not a fan of wealth as a form of government revenue.

1) Honesty - The government does not have an ideal track record for this trait. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe when the income tax was introduced, it was only intended for the richest Americans. Of course, this was not to be the final result and now everyone that has an income over $50K pays federal tax. This will be the case for the wealth tax eventually.

2)Wealth creation is good for the middle class. And those with the highest levels of wealth have done more for the middle class than any other income group. This reward for innovation has resulted in the largest middle class in the world. Compare the US population in 1880 to any other country. Germany and the US had roughly the same population at this time. Today, the US middle class population is 130 million. That is more than the entire population of Germany. Yes, there are real issues to be dealt with regarding the poor. But the wealthiest among us are the best financial managers and they have invested heavily in the US and it has created the healthiest middle class in the world. Why would we take money out of their hands and give it to politicians that have a tragic history of destroying wealth.

3)Giving the government another revenue stream does not hold them accountable for the poor capital allocation decisions they have made in the past. They simply do not steward finances well. They exceed their own budgets and have been reckless financially. Why should this kind of history be rewarded?

4) The federal government has come to be equated with a panacea for all issues. However, they consistently go outside the purview of their authority. General welfare, national defense, infrastructure that facilitates interstate commerce, justice, etc. is basically the extent of the responsibility. But they continue to not respect those limitations.

5) The message of the wealth tax is just bad optics. The federal government serves the people. The people don’t serve the government. The government does not let us have possessions. The possessions belong to us. A wealth tax conveys the image that wealth can just be allocated based upon government values. Not to mention that the wealthiest Americans money is tied up in the means of production. Transferring wealth from the highest net worth individuals to the government will inevitably lean to the means of production being minimized or transferred to the government. That is bad for the middle class.