Subject: Re: The biggest cult
Never at the Federal Level!!!!

The federal government cannot impose a tax on "assets," generally. At least, not without apportionment - and it's incredibly unlikely that the Congress would adopt an apportioned direct tax.

Congress can only pass taxes on "income," whatever that term means. It's not defined in the Constitution. We can debate whether appreciation of an asset meets that standard. But a straight-up tax on the entire value of an asset, not an appreciated portion of an asset, would not meet that standard. So if I buy a house for $500K (for example), and the next year it is worth $505K, Congress would clearly not have the power to tax the first $500K of value.