I don't think so. His shares likely have a basis of essentially $0, so he'll pay less taxes on the sale, but only because he's making less money. There's almost

I don't think so. His shares likely have a basis of essentially $0, so he'll pay less taxes on the sale, but only because he's making less money. There's almost never a reason to turn down real income/growth to save a (less than 100%) percentage of that on taxes.