Authored by Robert Blumen via The Mises Institute,
“Transmutation” is the process of changing one substance, element, or form into another.
We owe this word to the ancient pursuit of alchemy, which sought to accomplish the artificial production of gold from base metals. While it is now considered a pseudo-science, in our rational age, its aspirations survive in currently popular proposals for taxing billionaires.
The most advanced of these proposals is California Prop 40. Appearing on this fall’s ballot, if passed, would levy a “one time” balance sheet tax of five percent tax on taxpayers with ten or more figures to their name. US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), in “Why I Support a Billionaire Wealth Tax,” likes the idea. He likes it a lot. But, unlike CA-40’s one-time imposition, Khanna’s projects the results for at least ten years:
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