> "If these behaved like other forms of equity" I don't know what "behaved like" means in this context. By behaved like, I actually mean't "taxed like". You n

> "If these behaved like other forms of equity" I don't know what "behaved like" means in this context. By behaved like, I actually mean't "taxed like". You nailed it in your post. The employee is taking on increased risk with RSU's. Risk that is not rewarded with a more favourable tax rate, as other forms of stock (baring the same risk) are. Yet, you're taxed as if the risk were the same as your salary. Which it isn't. (you'll probably still get paid even if the share price goes down, particularly in large companies). I'm always wary of companies that try to explain away the relatively low basic salary with "look how many RSU's you're getting instead". Especially so, when they've already been though their initial growth phase. Amazon (AWS) is particularly bad for this in the UK.