> Norway imposes a wealth tax that taxes unrealized gains at approximately 1% annually. Calculated on the full market value for publicly traded assets and the book value of private companies. On New Year's Eve, whatever your net worth - including illiquid assets - is subject to this tax. It doesn't matter if you're running a loss-making startup with no cash flow, if your investments have tanked after the valuation date, or even if your company has gone bankrupt—you still owe the tax.

"unrealised gains". gains, not losses.

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HPsquared 10 months ago | parent [-]

Do they give a tax refund if the assets then lose (notional) value the next year?

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asadotzler 10 months ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, well credit and other mechanisms keep the ledger balanced. Do you think you're the first person who thought of that criticism or that none of the economics professionals though to address it? What arrogance.

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HPsquared 10 months ago | parent [-]

Yikes. I'm interested to see how it handles that. The risk aspect is one reason capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than regular income. I guess it's not a tax on gains per se but specifically a wealth tax.

	▲	exe34 10 months ago \| parent [-]
		I'm okay with a wealth tax if it stops the runaway growth of wealth inequality.

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exe34 10 months ago | parent | prev [-]

in many places you can claim the last few years worth of losses as offset on your profits before taxes.