I tend to agree. Even if this is ultimately deemed constitutional, it will take years in the courts that could span beyond one presidential term.
Unfortunately, the alternatives listed in the article (such as higher capital gains taxes) are much more of a blunt instrument than the scalpel Warren is proposing here. I do think the idea of taxing net wealth and strengthening the estate/gift tax are good methods of combating the generational entrenchment of wealth and worsening of overall wealth disparity, but this specific proposal seems fraught with legal issues that may not make it a practical war to wage.
Still, it may be worth a try. She shouldn't make this specific proposal the central plank in her platform given its legal tenuousness, but it doesn't seem like she is.
I suppose everyone who's been here more than a few days knows that I have a master's of law in taxation from NYU. When I started practicing in 1963, the amount of property exempt from estate taxation was $600K and the personal income tax exemption was $600. Adjusted for inflation, that $600K would equate to right at 5 million today. Until last year, that's approximately was the unified credit was. Of course, a married couple always got to add theirs together. Last year, the credit was increased by approximately double to $11.2 million
per person. (22 million for a couple.)
When I started to practice, I'd say that there was a general majority opinion that concentration of wealth was bad, per se. I think it came out of the abuses of the late 19th century and was bolstered by the Great Depression. Over a period of time, the public, a majority I think, has been sold on the proposition that accumulation of wealth is a good thing. The sources of the propaganda range all the way from the super-rich, who don't want to turn loose of what they have, to the preachers of the "prosperity gospel" on the right. Of course, for the great majority, this conviction is contra self-interest, but it's been bought, lock, stock and barrel. Naming the estate tax a "death tax" was a stroke of genius.
All this said, my observation over a period of decades, is that sentiment for taxing wealth concentration has declined sharply and I don't think the general opinion supports Warren's idea...