4 ms·

Sounds like bullshit to me. I don't quite believe that there's actually a tax system out there in any major country with inverse progressive taxation.

• londons_explore 6y ago
  On paper, no. But in reality most systems are like that because the more you earn the more worthwhile it becomes to exploit cross border loopholes and complicated tax schemes that end up in you paying nothing.
  • deleted 6y ago
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• closeparen 6y ago
  Bill Gates is making most of his money on appreciation of his MSFT shares, and has no use for liquidity on any significant portion of them. A person can only spend so much; consumption inequality is much less dramatic than wealth or income inequality. So the vast majority of "income" at this level is unrealized capital gain, not taxable at all. When someone like this does need liquidity, the top marginal tax rate on capital gain is 20%, not 37% like it is for wage income. But cheaper still is interest. He can pledge the shares as collateral and take out a loan at something like 2%/year (probably less). Progressive taxation is only for wage workers. A FAANG senior engineer is "the 1%" within the progressive tax system, and getting hit as hard as it is possible to get hit. But his founder-CEO lives outside the progressive tax scheme (c.f. Steve Jobs and his $1 salary), barely has a foot in any tax scheme (most gains unrealized), and is paying almost nothing in percentage terms.