A Tax on the Assets, Not Just Income
The measure that will appear on the ballot would apply to individuals whose net worth exceeds a billion-dollar threshold. Unlike the federal income tax, which taxes what you earn in a year, a wealth tax goes after what you already own — stocks, real estate, cash, even art. For a billionaire, that means the levy would be calculated on the total value of their holdings, no matter how much income they actually report.
That's a big departure from the U.S. system, where the government doesn't tax accumulated assets directly. It's also why the
