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Zuckerberg seems like a good guy, he clearly has some very strong philanthropic ideas about how he will spend his vast fortune, and he seems to be trying to nav

by jly 10y ago

Zuckerberg seems like a good guy, he clearly has some very strong philanthropic ideas about how he will spend his vast fortune, and he seems to be trying to navigate the strange property laws of Hawaii in the right way. Having said that, it kind of pains me to see one of our millennial altruistic thought-leaders already fully engaged in such wealth and property consolidation. $100M, multi-hundred acre estate in a place he may spend a couple weeks per year? It doesn't give me a lot of confidence for the future of our species, sadly. This is not a popular opinion, but the more I see where the world is going, the more I would be encouraged by seeing aggressive taxation or forced charity/redistribution from the bulk of inheritance. Our system of capitalism needs some serious brakes if we want it to be sustainable in the long-term.

jayjay71 10y ago
I saw a comment on HN about this recently where someone suggested a 100% inheritance tax. I wonder what society would be like if we were able to implement this effectively.
- harryh 10y ago
  It seems to me that would only incentive rich people to be more outlandish consumers during their lives. If the government won't let me give it to my kids I might as well go ahead and buy that yacht.
  - Inconel 10y ago
    I'm not nearly knowledgable enough on economics to determine the overall effects of such a tax, so please take this with a very large grain of salt, but couldn't it be argued that you purchasing a yacht would be better for the economy than passing on a fortune to heirs? Yachts seem to require a ton of skilled labor to build and maintain. I assume they provide for many solidly middle class jobs.
- LordKano 10y ago
  It's a horrible and horribly short-sighted idea. The very wealthy would just hire their heirs as consultants or advisors and pay them exorbitant salaries. Sure, the government would take ~40% in taxes but that still better than losing 100% of it. It would also push them to donate their fortunes to found private corporations and allow their heirs to "buy" the shares. Or move their money offshore into assets that aren't readily convertible like real estate. How is the US government going to seize 10,000 acres of land in Brazil? Unless you're prepared to enact Cold War era Soviet Union levels of control on all economic activity, the people who you most want to target will be able to side-step your plans.
LordKano 10y ago
I suspect that for a great many of the uber-rich, they're trying to compensate for the wrong they're doing or have done by becoming advocates. For example, I'm firmly convinced that Carnegie's philanthropy was his attempt to buy his way out of hell because he knew that he wouldn't be alive too much longer.

by jly 10y ago

jayjay71 10y ago

I saw a comment on HN about this recently where someone suggested a 100% inheritance tax. I wonder what society would be like if we were able to implement this effectively.

harryh 10y ago
It seems to me that would only incentive rich people to be more outlandish consumers during their lives. If the government won't let me give it to my kids I might as well go ahead and buy that yacht.
- Inconel 10y ago
  I'm not nearly knowledgable enough on economics to determine the overall effects of such a tax, so please take this with a very large grain of salt, but couldn't it be argued that you purchasing a yacht would be better for the economy than passing on a fortune to heirs? Yachts seem to require a ton of skilled labor to build and maintain. I assume they provide for many solidly middle class jobs.
LordKano 10y ago
It's a horrible and horribly short-sighted idea. The very wealthy would just hire their heirs as consultants or advisors and pay them exorbitant salaries. Sure, the government would take ~40% in taxes but that still better than losing 100% of it. It would also push them to donate their fortunes to found private corporations and allow their heirs to "buy" the shares. Or move their money offshore into assets that aren't readily convertible like real estate. How is the US government going to seize 10,000 acres of land in Brazil? Unless you're prepared to enact Cold War era Soviet Union levels of control on all economic activity, the people who you most want to target will be able to side-step your plans.

LordKano 10y ago

I suspect that for a great many of the uber-rich, they're trying to compensate for the wrong they're doing or have done by becoming advocates. For example, I'm firmly convinced that Carnegie's philanthropy was his attempt to buy his way out of hell because he knew that he wouldn't be alive too much longer.