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>Typical wealth taxes are in the region of 1% per year; a 1% (additional) annual rate of inflation would have the same impact on wealth as the tax

Or to put it another way: a 50% rise in the "normal" level of inflation (assuming 2% target that most countries target). Moreover this is a bad comparison because most rich people don't keep their wealth in cash, they invest it which mostly shields it from inflation. You end up overstating the current costs that capital owners are paying.



All assets are denominated in currency, so there exists no "shield" from inflation, except perhaps government-issued bonds that guarantee a return above inflation. Most so-called shields against inflation are investments that yield more than the rate of inflation.

The reason I used the comparison between wealth tax and inflation is to illustrate that modest wealth taxes in the order of 1% are not more onerous than many other influences on wealth.


> All assets are denominated in currency

False.

All assets can be valued in currency, but most are not denominated in currency (and even more are not denominated in whichever specific currency it is that you are trying to hedge against inflation in.) Debt instruments are usually denominated in some currency, but stocks are a claim on a particular share of the assets of a corporation at dissolution, not denominated in a particular currency.

A stock of a physical commodity is denominated in the physical commodity, not a currency.


You are correct.

Inflation affects the value of all assets whose value is frequently traded using currency (which is most of stock markets, property, etc). To argue otherwise would be to deny the seriously negative impact high inflation can have on all aspects of the economy.

There are assets whose value is mostly not financial, e.g. physical, social, intellectual, or otherwise. These retain their value despite inflation.

Nevertheless, I aimed to show that a modest 1% tax is not onerous compared to other impacts on accumulated wealth.


> Inflation affects the value of all assets whose value is frequently traded using currency (which is most of stock markets, property, etc).

Affects them all, sure, but it doesn't affect them all in the same way, even on a broad qualitative level.




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