Alright, Tax Wealth, Not Work (TWNW). Let’s say the wealth tax got implemented at 2% on wealth over 10 million. I’m unclear on whether it would increase single home ownership and reduce the number of available rentals and thus make it even more difficult to find living space. Or would the tax revenues from it allow for the construction of more community housing?
Not necessity. Since housing will be cheaper to buy, some will do that instead of rent. So the market of renters will be smaller, keeping rental prices in check.
In the Netherlands they tried that gamble and it didn’t work well. The stock for rent decreased with more houses sold, the prices kept growing as usual, and effectively more people faced higher rentals.
Maybe fewer people faced higher rents since more bought instead. But that would depend on the details of a specific market.
As I said the tax itself won’t fix everything. If rents get too high you need to adapt zoning to encourage more duplex and multifamily homes.