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Why do you say that? To me, it seems disingenuous to discount the fact that they pay more by using a relative percentage instead of an absolute amount. I may

by bcheung 11y ago

Why do you say that? To me, it seems disingenuous to discount the fact that they pay more by using a relative percentage instead of an absolute amount. I may be in the minority but I believe governments shouldn't discriminate based on income for the same reason they shouldn't discriminate based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. All people should be treated equal in the eyes of the law.

mjevans 11y ago
Taking your treating people equally to the logical conclusion, does that not also mean that everyone should have the same chance of success, the same opportunity to live and work in nice areas, the same pay for the job they work? While I do think that there is room for individuality and competition, I don't think that it's logical that someone can be three orders of (base 10) magnitude better than average. Any such level of compensation / wealth is surely an irregularity that should be corrected by tax (law).
- bcheung 11y ago
  No. There's a subtle yet important difference between treating people equally and making people equal. What you are talking about is equality of outcome. I'm talking about equality before the law. They are 2 different things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_before_the_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_before_the_law I'm not sure what you mean by better but it's perfectly logical to me that someone can provide 3 orders of magnitude more economic value than someone else. The more leverage there is the more the differences between people will be exaggerated. By leverage I mean capital, education, technology, outsourcing, etc. I find it perfectly reasonable that someone who builds a product that enriches millions of lives should be paid orders of magnitude more than someone like a waiter who only services 1 person at a time. It doesn't make sense to me that someone providing more value to society should be forced to pay more. That seems unfair to me.
smacktoward 11y ago
> I believe governments shouldn't discriminate based on income for the same reason they shouldn't discriminate based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. HN: the place to go to hear rich people described with a straight face as an oppressed class.

by bcheung 11y ago

mjevans 11y ago

Taking your treating people equally to the logical conclusion, does that not also mean that everyone should have the same chance of success, the same opportunity to live and work in nice areas, the same pay for the job they work? While I do think that there is room for individuality and competition, I don't think that it's logical that someone can be three orders of (base 10) magnitude better than average. Any such level of compensation / wealth is surely an irregularity that should be corrected by tax (law).

bcheung 11y ago
No. There's a subtle yet important difference between treating people equally and making people equal. What you are talking about is equality of outcome. I'm talking about equality before the law. They are 2 different things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_before_the_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_before_the_law I'm not sure what you mean by better but it's perfectly logical to me that someone can provide 3 orders of magnitude more economic value than someone else. The more leverage there is the more the differences between people will be exaggerated. By leverage I mean capital, education, technology, outsourcing, etc. I find it perfectly reasonable that someone who builds a product that enriches millions of lives should be paid orders of magnitude more than someone like a waiter who only services 1 person at a time. It doesn't make sense to me that someone providing more value to society should be forced to pay more. That seems unfair to me.

smacktoward 11y ago

> I believe governments shouldn't discriminate based on income for the same reason they shouldn't discriminate based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. HN: the place to go to hear rich people described with a straight face as an oppressed class.