alt Hacker NewsTo use Bezos as an example, how would you work that out? Take away his ownership of Amazon as it increases above 100MM? Who would you give it to? Would you nationalize it?
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I think the OP’s proposal is great but impossible to implement right away. Some steps have to be taken towards that direction though. First, eliminate borrowing using their stocks as collateral, thus avoiding capital gains tax. That would immediately reduce the number of new mega yachts.
But the biggest boon for society would be progressive taxes on inheritance. It wouldn’t be government’s problem to figure out how it would work. It would be on inheritor to figure out how to pay the taxes on their newly inherited wealth.
Liquidating shares over some fixed interval (1 year?) would be one option.
Billionaires are allowed to have their cake and eat it too in the form of loans backed by their stock holdings. This is how they get to have $500MM yachts without having to actually sell their stock and lose control of their companies. It's how they pay themselves without having to pay taxes, because it's treated like debt and not income. Treating these like capital gains would be a start.
couldnt you have control shares that weren't worth money?
> Take away his ownership of Amazon as it increases above 100MM?
Yes, that sounds reasonable to me. No single person should have control of a company with that much power.