Rich can effectively evade and tax struck down

(Dean, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, https://www.bostonreview.net/forum_response/dean-baker-wealth-tax-distraction/ , 4-5)

Can a wealth tax combat the effects of this policy-driven upward distribution? I would argue that it could not possibly succeed for very practical political reasons. First, as many have pointed out, it would almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional. This is not an abstract question of constitutional law: it is a concrete question about how we would expect the current Supreme Court to rule on the issue. Given the composition of the court, there can be little doubt on this question. And even before a wealth tax gets to the court, it has to pass Congress. While Zucman and Saez are confident that the IRS can be more successful in preventing evasion and avoidance than other countries have been, there is one unstoppable form of tax avoidance: rich people can simply renounce their citizenship. In their proposal, they seek to check this escape route by imposing a 47 percent exit tax. That would be a strong disincentive, once the tax is in place. However, nothing would stop rich people from renouncing their citizenship as the tax is being debated by Congress. Furthermore, they could use the threat of mass renunciation as a weapon against a Congress debating a wealth tax. Suppose that a thousand of the country’s richest people, controlling half or more of the wealth that was being targeted by a tax, signed onto a public letter threatening to renounce their citizenship if Congress were to move forward with a wealth tax proposal. Does anyone think that Congress would move ahead when faced with such a threat? Is there any reason to believe that the country’s richest people would not be prepared to take such extreme measures to protect their wealth? They already spend huge amounts of money on tax lawyers and accountants to limit their tax liabilities, often employing tactics of questionable legality. These are people who love their money much more than their country. It would be absurd not to expect them to organize with all the power at their disposal to stop a measure that would deal a huge blow to their wealth and power. A newly elected progressive president would suffer a major political embarrassment running into this brick wall.