Power to tax an asset? People have the power to not pay or avoid taxes. Smokes are expensive in Jersey or New York so people smuggle cheap smokes in and upwards of 50% of all smokes sold in NY I believe are illegal, one of the northeast states. Greece taxes and people avoid it. Corporations are taxed and many figure out ways to avoid it. http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_120722.pdf Here is $32 trillion hidden by wealthy who avoided taxes. Unless the government imposes some sort of financial tax such as 1% on every transfer and purchase I don't see it ending.
It's very simple... How many aircraft carriers does the United States have commissioned currently? More than the rest of the world combined... 'Nuff said.
Strongly disagree, your US tax authorities are very powerful and strict. On the whole, they collect what is due.
So if you have this one asset valued at 60 trillion, and of course you have plenty of other assets, (maybe the total is 200-300 trillion?), so why worry about a mere 18 trillion debt? I haven't even mentioned the 'asset' of being able to print money to pay off dollar debts.
"The debt, largely foreign-held,..." Whatever "largely" in this context means I'm not certain, but the majority of U.S. debt is held by U.S. interests. The Social Security Administration is the largest holder.
For a sovereign country with its own currency, what public money is spent on is at least as important as how much is spent. If governments spend wisely, the amount will not be a concern.