> Net worth is not real.
Good way to find out it this is the case: take it away. Not real, right? Why would they mind?
Good way to find out it this is the case: take it away. Not real, right? Why would they mind?
Take what away? I'm saying if I own 51% of Tesla, you cannot tell what amount of money that amounts to until I sell it.
C'mon, man. We know Musk's net worth. It's public knowledge!
No we don't.
>It's public knowledge!
No it's not. We estimate his net worth based on public filings. We know next to nothing about his nonpublic holdings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_of_Elon_Musk
That the estimates vary a bit on the edges doesn't mean they've no value. It was public knowledge when his net worth confirmably hit a trillion dollars in share holdings.
"with an estimated"
You made my point for me, thank you.
>That the estimates vary a bit on the edges
We don't know that. It could vary widely, intra-day even.
>doesn't mean they've no value.
I did not make this claim.
>It was public knowledge when his net worth confirmably hit a trillion dollars in share holdings.
It was "public knowledge" when his estimated net worth hit a trillion.
If your point is "we can't tax people because estimates aren't perfect", sure. But it's a silly point. We already tax people off estimates - if you own a house, your property taxes are assessed in exactly this fashion - an estimate of its value.
> It was "public knowledge" when his estimated net worth hit a trillion.
No. It was public knowledge when his known numbers of shares in his publicly traded companies reached a known price point.
Don't try to deflect or move the goalposts. My point is you stated "we know Musk's net worth" when we don't. This is a false claim.
>No
Yes.
>It was public knowledge when his known numbers of shares in his publicly traded companies reached a known price point.
An estimate based on the valuation of his publically known stakes at a specific point in time, not his net worth.
Is it Zuck's networth or salary that makes it possible for him to own his ranch in Hawaii?
In the rare cases where contract law makes the transfer impossible legally the government could trivially step in to make it possible
And certainly ceejayoz was being a bit glib by suggesting we take all of it, but it would not be remotely insurmountable to tax billionaire wealth.
This is, ironically, more of a guess/estimate than determining Musk's net worth is. We don't actually know that!
whats the complication? if its not worth anything whos gonna worry, especially if the government then compensates you in dollars
Oh, are those real now?
Valuing assets is a routine, widespread thing.
You can't just handwave away the fact that the real world exists.
A painting can be valued. A vintage car can be valued. A movie script can be valued. My house's value changed a bunch during COVID; I'm still taxed on it! Each is an asset; none of these examples can be perfectly valuated; each may see its value change dramatically over time, but you can still estimate its worth pretty well.
Hell, I can put my house address on Zillow and get an estimate in real time.
these other assets like musk's stocks are still quite divisible, and theyre as liquid as the government wants them to be. just because musk hasnt written the liquidity into his government sponsored contracts doesnt mean the government cant say yes, 10% of your private spaceX stock is liquid and belongs to donald trump now
its real and thus it is taxable