Would a wealth tax be constitutional?

Question

Today I learned that federal income taxes were unconstitutional before the 16th Amendment which authorized them.

From an answer to the question, Constitutionality of the Income Tax

The constitutionality of the income tax was addressed by the Supreme Court in the 1895 case Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. At the time, the Court ruled that federal income taxes not apportioned by population were unconstitutional.

Since the 16th Amendment only allows the collection of income taxes, does this mean that it is currently still unconstitutional for the United States federal government to collect a wealth tax?

Answer 1

No. It is of course possible that one day it may be ruled unconstitutional, and there are many who argue it already is, but a Supreme Court ruling has not addressed this question directly yet.

The National Review (admittedly a conservative publication) made an interesting argument that a wealth tax would require a constitutional amendment: http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/333660/constitutional-fiasco-wealth-tax-matthew-j-franck

Part of this logic involves the history of the constitutionality of income taxes, which was resolved by the 16th Amendment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

On the flip side, one journalist argues we do (kind of) have wealth taxes in America, but - as he says - they're not done well: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/06/america_s_wealth_tax_it_s_called_property_taxes_and_they_re_not_very_smart.html

Answer 2

At the state level, you may be interested in an asset tax the billionaire Ambassador Walter Annenberg defeated in 2000 in Pennsylvania, since it favored PA stocks and bonds violating the commerce clause: Annenberg v Pennsylvania