This is a common misperception around the economics of taxation. Look at it from the company perspective. There is a skill that is worth a lot of money to them

This is a common misperception around the economics of taxation. Look at it from the company perspective. There is a skill that is worth a lot of money to them which they want to acquire. If they are willing to pay $1mm more than their competitor for that skil, for that amount of money to actually go to recipient, it will now cost the company $7mm of profit. That skill is no less valuable or essential to the company, it’s just effectively impossible to pay for it now. The extra money paid in taxes in order to acquire that skill comes off the balance sheet — and effectively is being taken away from the same pool of money that is being spent to hire workers at $50k/year. The $50k/year worker can not do the job of the $10mm/year worker. 100 of them cannot do the job either (because so much key labor is not actually divisible). It’s hurting the company balance sheet to effectively pay their most important employees, which hurts the company. Likewise, the employee making $10mm+ per year is a visionary who, like an Elon Musk, is contributing to the economy in ways a lot more profound than a few extra cents in everyone’s welfare checks. “No one needs more than a million dollars a year, just take everything above that to even things out” means you never have people willing to lay it all on the line to try to do something more as well.