6.2 Wealth Tax

Objectives (why tax wealth at all): redistribution — curbing the concentration of idle property; taxing what the income tax misses (appreciating, unproductive assets); the social-policy face of the canons. The classic design: an annual levy on aggregate net wealth above a threshold — assets minus debts, at progressive rates. Nepal's position (the honest map): the classic net- wealth levy has not been Nepal's standing practice — the wealth-tax idea in Nepali experience has travelled through property-type taxation (house and land) rather than a broad aggregate base; policy debates on a modern wealth tax (and on taxing capital gains on property more fully) recur. In the exam: define the classic design, state Nepal's property-focused practice honestly, and give the objectives — do not invent operative rates.