There is often a huge difference between what someone earns and what their net worth is. Two very different numbers. I know of people who earn $2 million per year with a net worth of around $3 million. Some spend lots more than they save/invest. Some are at the very beginning of a high earning job. Some with low income and high net worth may be at the tail end of a career, retired, living off inheritance, etc. Politicians often choose to use the term 'millionaire' to drive their political ambitions/narratives but rarely share which they are referring to: income-rich or assets-rich. Usually they want to tax both!

In New York State many decry the loss of millionaires to other lower tax states. The counter-argument is that New York has actually seen a big spike in the number of millionaire earners, regardless of spiraling costs and taxes.  Yes, while it is true that in New York City, the number of million-dollar-plus earners grew from 18,355 in 2010 to 33,765 in 2022, New York City’s share of the US's Million-dollar-plus earners fell from 12.7% to 8.7%. New York State's number doubled between 2010 and 2022 but they tripled in California and Texas and Quadrupled in Florida. Earners. 

Why do politicians confuse us with earners and owners? Because they can tax earners much more easily. Its only real estate as an asset that is consistently taxed annually and that is mostly to pay for services that support the real estate like roads, infrastructure, schools, transportation, etc. No 'tax-free-real-estate-taxes' exist anywhere in the US and some areas claiming low taxes have very high real estate taxes which are rarely mentioned. Imagine you buy a home (with after-tax dollars), spend lots on upgrading it, renovations etc and the value rises and even though you don't sell it triggering a capital gain, you are taxed more and more as the value rises. The value of Apple or Google stock is not taxed annually.

So while the "rich" are demonized by some, the group impacted the most by this rhetoric are a group paying most of the taxes already, wage earners. The "net-worth-rich" are now under the microscope as governments globally are faced with sharply rising costs and demands for more government assistance, services and infrastructure and seek more tax revenues to cover the increase in costs. Imagine winning a $100 million lottery, receiving $50 million after taxes and then paying a percent of those after-tax net earnings each year. You pay income taxes on any earnings and capital gains (if you sell any of the investments/assets), but another tax just on the value of your assets? Does the real cure for the growing imbalances lie in estate taxes? Let's discuss!