re: CNN: The US would be better off with fewer billionaires

Not necessarily. The idea is to put those assets to work. The taxation of property goes way back to Lords. They would buy up all the land not do shite with it while peasants starved cause they didn't have land to scratch and sow seeds to feed their families. The "property tax" incentivized the land holders to do something productive with the land and not hoard it, whether it be rent out the land for someone else to farm or mine or do it themselves.