Lots of calls for a wealth tax lately. It sounds good: tax the super-rich more so we can have more money for government services. But a couple of quick things you won't hear in the sound bites. Europe tried a wealth tax and mostly abandoned it. One big reason is that countries found that the cost of enforcing it were often higher than the tax revenue it brought in. Little to no money actually made it to those who needed it. To tax 'wealth' you need an army of new, highly trained (and highly paid) IRS agents to comb through super complex situations. Taxing income is relatively easy. Just take a specific % of a specific number and deduct a few things. Taxing wealth is hard, messy and incredibly complex (again, don't believe me .. ask the European nations who tried and abandoned it). And then what do you do when wealth falls? Let's say a family is worth $20 billion. They are taxed. Their family stock (and remember that 'wealth' is going to almost always be in stock, never in income) falls by 50%. Does the IRS have to write a billion-dollar refund check back to the family for taxing them on wealth that no longer exists? The family will sue for the money back. Which means another army of IRS agents will spend years tied up in analysis and litigation. Everyday taxpayers can and will fight audits over relatively small sums of money. What do you think the rich and their team of accountants are going to do? But we are a democracy and its voters demand it or Congress votes for it, let's give it a try. Maybe we can do taxes better than Europe. We certainly are a lot richer these days as they've driven themselves into a ditch. One upside of a new wealth tax would certainly be on DC real estate. We'd have to hire a massive number of new, well-paid auditors who will need a place to live. Anyway, you don't have to believe me. I work for CNBC know a lot of rich people so this will largely be discounted anyway. Do some quick research or use Chat or Gemini or whatever and let it give you an unvarnished answer. But like all things you hear ... things are usually more complex than simple sound bites -- or X posts -- can relate. Always happy to have polite, kind and fair debates on any topic. Look forward to further discussion. Go USA soccer and Go Knicks!

Let’s give it a try?

Start with no ceiling on income taxed for SS/FICA?

If they can get a data center in space next year. Makes me wonder why others didn't try before all that capex on the ground that requires more power that they can't even get so far

And what kind of profit have they made off of all that? Are people waiting in line to buy rockets?

Forget about who controls Iran. Who controls Iran State Media that ridicules Trump and USA at every turn? @SullyCNBC @MCaruso_Cabrera @mmcassella @CNBCTheExchange

There's been a significant buildup of U.S. military power and equipment in the Gulf. Not just naval ships, but air and amphibious power as well. Many friends in the Tidewater, Virginia area know people who are now deployed. A 'taking' of Kharg wouldn't be a surprise. Deep market players have known this is a possibility. The question is how Iran and NIOC (the Iranian oil company) might react. My take --> 25% chance of happening. But it's not 0%. #oil #iran #khargisland

Why take it when you could just destroy the terminals or interdict the ships? It doesn't make sense. Taking out leadership is the next best step or arming insurgents

Got home and wrapping writing Power Insider. Turned on the Knicks game. Turning off the Knicks game.