Taxed for Leaving? Chris Casey Warns Wealth Taxes Are Spreading

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**Chris Casey** (1:28)
Don't assume your retirement accounts are totally protected. You don't want all your money in IRA. You don't want all your money in 401K. For your own protection, 30% of your retirement fund is now invested in treasure bonds. I'm actually shocked it hasn't happened already.

**Maggie Lake** (1:48)
Hello and welcome to Wealthion. I'm Maggie Lake. Joining me today for a conversation about taxes and how to protect your wealth is Chris Casey, founder and managing director of WindRock Wealth Management. Hi, Chris. Great to have you back on.

**Chris Casey** (2:01)
Likewise, Maggie. Great seeing you.

**Maggie Lake** (2:02)
Warm welcome to all of you listening. If you have questions about your portfolios after listening to this, and I think you might, you can hit the link in the description or on the screen and get more information, including a free review from an advisor in the Wealthion Network or a member of the WindRock team. So welcome you to do that. Chris, this is interesting. I know this is a topic that's been on your mind and something that you are actively working on with your clients.
Financial repression aimed at the wealth date. First of all, explain what that means for folks who may not be familiar with that language.

**Chris Casey** (2:33)
I would describe this as a phenomena we've seen from a number of states in the United States. They have taken measures that are directly targeting rich people. It needs to take the forms of wealth taxes, exit taxes, taxing on realized gains, pay taxes, income taxes, surcharges, etc. But they all have one commonality. That is, A, they're largely directed at the rich. B, they all have the same source, meaning the fiscal situation, the dire fiscal situation of all these states is driving that.
And three, they all involve various measures of financial repression across the spectrum.

**Maggie Lake** (3:10)
So you answered what was sort of top of mind for me, which is why is the risk rising around this issue now and what's changed? And it seems like you're saying it's just sort of the high debt of states who are having an impossible time balancing their budget. Is this just a state issue or is this a federal issue as well? Because we talk all the time about the problems with rising deficits.

**Chris Casey** (3:34)
Yeah. Well, right now, I'm talking more focused on because most of these initiatives are state initiatives as far as state fiscal situations, which are dire. I mean, think about this. California, I find the shocking. In 2019, their expenditures for the budget was about 150 billion. Now it's 250 billion. So how do you explain over a seven-year period, a two-thirds increase in expenditures, right?
The federal government has two things going, one thing hindering itself, one thing in its favor that will at least ameliorate financial repression on the scale the states may have. One is that they can print money, right? The states can't print money. Ultimately, that's what they're going to do to pay this off. Secondly, is they do have much, I'd say, stricter constitutional safeguards from them enacting legislation. That's why California may get away with a wealth tax, whereas the United States probably cannot.