Only 13 billion?

Okay, just a couple of details here I’d like to put out in the open.

First and foremost, I don’t like billionaires. I think they should all have their wealth stripped down until they’re under a billion dollars. There is no reason why billionaires should exist. That’s such an incredibly large number that our human brains don’t even really understand the difference between a million, 100 million, and a billion. It’s visually difficult to even represent. So as far as I’m concerned, the sooner these guys can get their wealth back down to a more reasonable level, the better it is for the world in general.

Second, I really like Proposition 40. It’s got some real teeth to it. The proposition doesn’t simply charge taxes on revenue that a billionaire produces; it charges the tax against their net worth, which I think is absolutely fantastic because it actually targets accumulated wealth.

And that’s important because billionaires don’t have billions of dollars sitting around in a checking account. They may have significantly less than even a billion dollars in liquid cash. If Mr. Sergey Brin is worth $250 billion, for example, a 5% wealth tax would represent roughly $12.5 billion. He’s going to have to come up with that money somehow. He can cash out assets, borrow against them, sell investments, or use other sources of liquidity. The proposition also provides for payment over a period of up to five years, although doing so comes with additional charges.

That’s going to be a real interruption for billionaires, and I absolutely love that aspect of it. These people have accumulated enormous amounts of wealth while the rest of us live in an economy where ordinary people are taxed on their income, their purchases, their property, and virtually everything else they do.

For decades, America’s tax system has allowed enormous fortunes to accumulate largely through appreciating assets rather than ordinary taxable income. Billionaires can therefore become dramatically wealthier without necessarily realizing that wealth as conventional income.

Good on California for proposing a tax on extreme wealth that actually has the potential to put a dent in those fortunes.

Mind you, these billionaires are ultimately trying to avoid what amounts to superficial damage to their coffers. Five percent of a $250 billion fortune is still an enormous amount of money, but it leaves $237.5 billion behind. And if their assets continue appreciating, they can potentially recover that lost wealth relatively quickly.

I’m not saying 5% is going to destroy these people. It won’t. But that’s exactly why I think it’s a good step. It’s a real tax on accumulated wealth, it actually requires the ultra-wealthy to part with a meaningful amount of money, and it demonstrates that enormous fortunes aren’t necessarily untouchable simply because the wealth isn’t sitting in a bank account.

This is treating a symptom and not the cause.

Assets will be kept elsewhere; it’s an inconvenience, but not solving the fundamental problem.

All corporate entities must have employee ownership. Only government can enforce this, the shareholders and board won’t willingly share any assets, they will always fight for the closest thing to slavery that they can get, they will fight to the last penny.

Corporations would still move most assets overseas, but at least some of the earnings can be redistributed when they do business in your state.

(See Panama and Pandora papers for more details on international tax evasion, which will always be an option, as there is always a country eager to make hundreds of billions)

Even 5% per year sounds pretty reasonable, honestly.

If you are a billionaire within a lifetime, then the yearly growth of your assets has been so insane that a 5% headwind should not scare you, you big crybaby.

Or if you inherited it and don’t have a rapidly growth net worth… cry me a river.

Billionaires are a symptom of the broken system.

We should convert these billionaires to islam so they pay 2.5% every year

Should make it a simple choice.

Billionaires pay taxes or get their heads cut off.

There is enough for all, the scarcity is fake and controlled by the wealthy, to maintain their place at the top, in this punching down system they invented. Read a summary of Democracy In Chains to learn more and all the propaganda they used to fool the public for decades with coordinated lies and distraction to keep their wealth and prejudice safe.

If this wins and not struck down or delayed for ages, it’s supposed to bring income over five years with delayed payments so they can sell stuff lol.

A one-time money infusion is terrible policy. I support it because taxes should be re-distributive, but there is no way to budget a sustainable social policy that way. If the tax policy was more progressive and most importantly assessed annually (and nationally) it would be a huge win.

It is amazing the amount of money and effort Billionaires put into avoiding paying taxes. They aren’t hated enough.

I dont care how many billions he’s gonna lose

It’s literally a one-time 5% tax.

The more money they scream they’re gonna lose the more I can see them afford to pay

And he’ll still be a billionaire after that.

Do they all just have the most generally punchable faces? Or do their faces just become our idea of what is punchable?

God I fucking hate the rich. He’s spending thousands of times my yearly pay just to avoid paying less in taxes than I do

It’s just 5% of his wealth. Most people give anything from 20% to 50% of their annual income to taxes and will pay income taxes on all their retirement savings when they pull it.