4 ms·

There is obviously no exact dollar amount. I don't believe everyone should have the same amount, but there should probably be some lower and upper limit. Maybe

There is obviously no exact dollar amount. I don't believe everyone should have the same amount, but there should probably be some lower and upper limit. Maybe it is possible to calculate the difference between the two. Perhaps the upper limit would be 10000x that of the lower limit. Just as an example. There being a lower limit also implies some kind of universal basic income. Theoretically partially supplied by the upper limits excess.

shrimpx 4y ago
What happens to the excess is what’s interesting. And if it’s in volatile assets, how do you shave off the top? E.g. your stocks go way above the limit in a bubble but then crash by 50% right after you got taxed.
- xur17 4y ago
  The other "fun" side effect of this is that the government is slowly going to become the majority owner of every business.
  - shrimpx 4y ago
    Yeah. I guess that model implies that the govt will take a percent ownership of whatever you own. I think it would destroy the prospect of high risk high reward ventures like Tesla. Maybe the tax rate can be divided by a volatility metric so investors in high risk ventures aren’t severely punished randomly.
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Do you feel random government employees would be more productive and knowledgeable than the owners of the business whose shares were taken away by this scheme? Do you feel good businesses would continue to be good when handled by bureaucrats? Bonus points for the name of a bureaucracy that has done this kind of thing well.
      - shrimpx 4y ago
        No I don’t support this. I keep trying to figure out how it could work, so I can understand the point of view of the people who propose it. I haven’t seen any salient proposal.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
tomcam 4y ago
There is obviously an exact upper dollar amount. You described it yourself: $1 billion. Do you think restricting the amount of money people can make and therefore pay taxes on is a good way to pay for universal basic income? Elon Musk will famously pay something like $12 billion this year. What’s the best way to sustain welfare programs that you like without a large tax base?

shrimpx 4y ago

What happens to the excess is what’s interesting. And if it’s in volatile assets, how do you shave off the top? E.g. your stocks go way above the limit in a bubble but then crash by 50% right after you got taxed.

xur17 4y ago
The other "fun" side effect of this is that the government is slowly going to become the majority owner of every business.
- shrimpx 4y ago
  Yeah. I guess that model implies that the govt will take a percent ownership of whatever you own. I think it would destroy the prospect of high risk high reward ventures like Tesla. Maybe the tax rate can be divided by a volatility metric so investors in high risk ventures aren’t severely punished randomly.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Do you feel random government employees would be more productive and knowledgeable than the owners of the business whose shares were taken away by this scheme? Do you feel good businesses would continue to be good when handled by bureaucrats? Bonus points for the name of a bureaucracy that has done this kind of thing well.
    - shrimpx 4y ago
      No I don’t support this. I keep trying to figure out how it could work, so I can understand the point of view of the people who propose it. I haven’t seen any salient proposal.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

tomcam 4y ago

There is obviously an exact upper dollar amount. You described it yourself: $1 billion. Do you think restricting the amount of money people can make and therefore pay taxes on is a good way to pay for universal basic income? Elon Musk will famously pay something like $12 billion this year. What’s the best way to sustain welfare programs that you like without a large tax base?