I've seen a lot of talk about hard limits online recently, I don't like it. A very high tax rate for the extremely rich I am much more OK with.
75 to 95 percent of income above 10 million seems fine. I wouldn't even tax stock holding. Let people sell 10 million in stock each year and avoid the high tax, nobody will struggle on 10 million a year. And if their money is still growing like crazy in the stock market, fine, tax it when it comes out.
I have literally read of a conversation between the wives of two high income individuals, where one said, "The thing about 40 [million dollars a year income] is that, after taxes, it's only 20".
Sure, nobody will struggle on 10 million a year. They won't go hungry. They won't have to worry about an unexpected car repair bill. But they will struggle to live the lifestyle that they've come to expect to be able to live. That will feel like struggling to them. And they will complain bitterly about having to struggle, and the rest of us will mock them for it, and say "You have no idea what struggling is."
This has a kind of weird, not necessarily bad effect. Since the main way this changes the CEOs life is their relationship to capital.
With income "caps," you no longer own a private jet, but you still fly on one.
The company hires your chauffeur, owns your vacation home, owns your private jet, hires your personal assistant, hires your other, more personal assistant, pays for your chef and maid, etc.
CEOs still live a life of luxury, but they are unable to acquire massive capital. If software engineers are labor aristocrats, CEOs become labor space emperors.
It definitely is more of an "east-coast" style of wealth, the kind of thing that shocked the "Traitorus Eight" when they were working with east coast finance to found Fairchild (if I'm remembering my history correctly.) But high marginal tax rates on the super rich were in effect at that time and they didn't understand the alternative either.
I've seen a lot of talk about hard limits online recently, I don't like it. A very high tax rate for the extremely rich I am much more OK with.
75 to 95 percent of income above 10 million seems fine. I wouldn't even tax stock holding. Let people sell 10 million in stock each year and avoid the high tax, nobody will struggle on 10 million a year. And if their money is still growing like crazy in the stock market, fine, tax it when it comes out.