A wealth tax is a bad idea.

America should be encouraging wealth not consumption, especially of non-renewable resources that are carbon intensive. We should encourage people to save money each month, build up their assets, protect themselves from financial hardship.

Some argue that a wealth tax would only hit the billionaires. But who is to say congress wouldn’t lower the threshold in coming years to hit pensioners in nice inherited houses and poor farmers who have acres of land to feed their cows? A million dollars in assets is not uncommon in America for people facing retirement – to say nothing of people who farm a hundred acres but might only bring in $50,000 a year in actual income.

Instead of a wealth tax, I am a big believer in the carbon tax. It is a tax that actually discourages something that is problematic for our economy and society. Everybody pays it indirectly and those who produce the greatest carbon emissions pay the most – a powerful incentive to reduce emissions.