I was once on a tour in Provence that included the house where Nostradamus used to live, which features several windows that have been bricked over. “That’s because the government used to tax you based on how many windows your house had,” I volunteered to the group, trying to be informative. “And that’s why wealth taxes don’t work,” I added, trying not to be annoying.
I am not sure the tour guide — a proud Marxist, this was France after all, I expected nothing less — appreciated my editorializing. But it’s a relevant issue again as France considers a wealth tax , which would be as nonsensical today as it was 500 years ago.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Bloomberg Opinion (paywall)
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
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