Washington Post reporter Annie Linskey shares this anecdote from the campaign trail about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D‑Mass.) and the wealth tax she has proposed:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says that she met two little girls in N.H. who are planning a “two cents” Halloween costume in homage to her proposed wealth tax.


It will definitely be a scary costume to some.

— Annie Linskey (@AnnieLinskey) October 30, 2019

Isn’t it cute? Kids and their wacky ideas! But the better analogy would be if they showed up demanding 2% of the value of the house and its furnishings, and added that they would be back with that same demand each year.

Warren’s fans might respond that her confiscatory plans begin — for now, at least — only after the first $50 million in assets, far above the value of almost anyone’s house. Of course that would also make nonsense of the original cute-costume idea too — except for the principle that your wealth and savings are there for the government to confiscate in the first place. That’s a principle some people seem keen to establish for the future.