One thing I don't get though is how eventually it has "profound implications for the competitiveness of the US tech sector". If the employees now wouldn't want

One thing I don't get though is how eventually it has "profound implications for the competitiveness of the US tech sector". If the employees now wouldn't want to be compensated with options because of the tax, can't they be compensated in some other form, e.g. cash? Eventually isn't it still the company and the employee that negotiate the compensation scheme, and essentially the company's decision how much to pay? The most obvious thing that I can currently think of is just that maybe the startup just doesn't have that much cash in the initial stage, so raising wages to even higher would just bankrupt it, while options is something that would only cost the company money if ever it actually succeeds, thus it can afford to give options away. If one thinks of it in that way then maybe it would make slightly more sense?