this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024
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[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Here's a small set of proposals, definitely well thought of and not made up specifically for this comment to make a point:

Start taxing them heavily on wealth INCLUDING unrealized gains once it hits a threshold, but no wealth tax for normal people. Force companies to become either co-ops or publicly traded when certain thresholds are met - and if the founder has too much stock, the taxes on unrealized gains will force them to sell. But if it's a co-op, don't count anyone's share in it as wealth for taxation, only any profit actually paid out by the co-op. My prediction is that companies with high profit per employee (think Steam) will become worker-owned co-ops and companies with lower profit per employee will be publicly traded (think Walmart, except of course Walmart is already publicly traded)

Essentially, I want people to be able to own property, but not own so much that it negatively affects everyone else - everyone should be able to have a primary residence tax-free and I don't think it's bad for someone to own a second home either, except that shouldn't be tax-free. Hoarding property isn't OK though - that affects everyone else's housing situation. I don't like the idea of the state owning all homes - I want there to be strong rules protecting me from being evicted because the state needs a factory built right where my neighbourhood is - but there SHOULD also be state sponsored housing for those who can't afford their own homes, and they should be easily attainable, and built to a good standard.

I'm okay with people making a plentiful living from passive income off ownership in some company they built, I'm just not okay with it being so much that they make more in a year than the rest of us do in a hundred thousand.

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How's public trading supposed to reduce wealth accumulation? Tesla is publicly traded but Elon still had enough money to buy and ruin Twitter.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ultra high taxes on unrealized gains. There are no taxes on unrealized gains presently, nor a wealth tax. Which is why if his wealth increases 2x, his taxation... just does not, unless Tesla pays him dividends or a salary.

If Elon had to live with a, say, 99% tax rate on anything above a billion dollars and it included his Tesla stock not just money he has for real, he'd be forced to sell, or go to jail for unpaid taxes.

Why 99% and not 100%? Just to mock them.