How to Convert Between Wealth and Income Tax

May 2026 How do you convert between wealth and income tax?

2026 年 5 月 您如何在财富税和所得税之间进行转换？

If a government imposes a wealth tax of 1%, what's the equivalent in income tax?

如果政府征收 1% 的财富税，那么所得税相当于多少？

It's clear from the way most politicians talk about the subject that they not only don't know the answer, but don't even realize there's such a question.

从大多数政客谈论这个话题的方式可以明显看出，他们不仅不知道答案，甚至没有意识到存在这样一个问题。

In fact the conversion rate between them is about 20.

事实上它们之间的转化率大约是20。

A wealth tax of 1% is equivalent to an income tax of 20%.

1%的财富税相当于20%的所得税。

To convert between wealth and income tax rates, you have to divide by the rate of return on capital.

要在财富税率和所得税税率之间进行转换，您必须除以资本回报率。

The conversion rate of 20 comes from assuming that the risk-free rate of return is 5%.

20 的转换率来自假设无风险收益率为 5% 的情况。

Historically that's an optimistic assumption.

从历史上看，这是一个乐观的假设。

4% might be more realistic.

4%可能更现实。

But 5% will do.

但5%就可以了。

[ 1 ] If we run through an example it will be clear how this works.

[1] 如果我们运行一个示例，就会清楚它是如何工作的。

Suppose you have $100, you're getting a 5% rate of return on this capital,

假设你有 100 美元，你的资本回报率为 5%，

and there's a 20% income tax.

还有20%的所得税。

The 5% rate of return means at the end of one year your $100 has made you another $5.

5% 的回报率意味着一年结束时，您的 100 美元可以再赚 5 美元。

But you have to pay 20% of that, or $1, in income tax, so your after-tax income is $4.

但您必须缴纳其中的 20%，即 1 美元所得税，因此您的税后收入为 4 美元。

At the end of the year, after paying taxes, you have $100 + $4 = $104.

到年底，纳税后，您有 100 美元 + 4 美元 = 104 美元。

Now suppose instead of a 20% income tax, there's a 1% wealth tax.

现在假设不是 20% 的所得税，而是 1% 的财富税。

At the end of the year your $100 has made you another $5, as before.

和以前一样，年底你的 100 美元又赚了 5 美元。

But that year you had to pay 1% of your $100, or $1, in wealth tax.

但那一年你必须缴纳 100 美元的 1%，即 1 美元的财富税。

So at the end of the year you have $99 + $5 = $104.

所以到年底你有 99 美元 + 5 美元 = 104 美元。

Each 1% of wealth tax is equivalent to 20% of income tax.

每1%的财富税相当于20%的所得税。

It's clear that politicians don't get this from the way they talk about a "mere 1%" wealth tax.

很明显，政客们并没有从他们谈论“仅仅 1%”的财富税的方式中理解这一点。

None of them would speak of adding a "mere 20%" to the income tax rate, even though that's mathematically the same thing.

他们中没有人会谈到在所得税税率上增加“仅仅 20%”，尽管这在数学上是一样的。

[ 2 ]

[2]

Politicians understand that an additional 20% income tax would be a lot.

政客们明白，额外征收 20% 的所得税是一笔巨款。

And indeed a US state that added 20% to its top income tax rate would have extraordinarily high taxes.

事实上，美国一个州如果将最高所得税税率提高 20%，那么其税收就会非常高。

Currently the country with the highest marginal income tax rate is Denmark, at 60.5%.

目前边际所得税率最高的国家是丹麦，为60.5%。

The top US federal tax rate is 37%, and the median state income tax rate is Oklahoma's, which is 4.75%.

美国联邦税率最高为37%，州所得税税率中位数为俄克拉荷马州，为4.75%。

So in the median case, a state adding an additional 20% in income tax

因此，在中位数情况下，一个州额外增加 20% 的所得税

would have a total marginal tax rate of 37% + 4.75% + 20%, or 61.75%.

总边际税率为 37% + 4.75% + 20%，即 61.75%。

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