Google cofounder Sergey Brin has spent $102 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses

[u/Logical_Welder3467]

https://fortune.com/article/how-much-has-google-cofounder-sergey-brin-spent-to-oppose-california-billionaire-tax-102-million-owe-13-billion-if-loses/

[u/ltsouthernbelle]

Serious question: what does one individual who already has vast amounts of money, homes, cars, all the toys and luxuries they desire do with $13b?

[u/Wobbly_Princess → u/ltsouthernbelle]

Own it. That's... literally it. After hoarding absurd amounts of material goods, they simply sit on it.

It's a status thing, it's a power thing.

These people are operating on a psychological wavelength that we as normal people can't conceive of, because their brains work differently.

A small percent of the population, whether they are good or bad people, simply don't have a rich well of empathy that connects them to other people, so they simply interface with reality through the lens of power and grabbling.

Some of these people who lack empathy are still able to conduct themselves well and do the right thing because they're pro-social and don't desire hurting people, but there are others who truly don't care about doing damage, as long as they can be in power. They're not turned off by the mess of it, as long as there are mechanisms in place that keep them at a safe distance from the devastation they're causing.

Unfortunately because the system has slowly grown into a machine that props up and empowers people who hoard vast amounts of wealth, we're now in a mess.

It's not unsolvable, but holy shit, this has formed into something way larger and more menacing than it ever should have, and to be honest, this is all of our faults. It's not just the rich people with different brains, it's also a sleepy population who in many ways allowed for the gradual encroachment of things that should have been tossed out decades ago.

Lastly I wanna say, I don't even know if he's entirely wrong in his pursuit, because if you do heavily tax the rich, they'll probably just fuck off elsewhere, and that also causes economic damage.

[u/PoL0 → u/Wobbly_Princess]

it's pretty easily solvable. just tax big fortunes. stop with the tax incentives for big corporations and rich people.

the usual counterargument is that fortunes leave when states do that. so what? they aren't paying their taxes anyway so they can fuck off.

billionaires should be the most grateful for public services and infrastructure. it's what holds their businesses and workers.

[u/ZealousidealCrow8492 → u/PoL0]

These people easily forget that UNIONS were / are the compromise replacement for guillotines.

[u/MinusBear → u/PoL0]

This. Every billionaire on this planet is heavily subsidised by our taxes, and yet they are so reticent to pay the very bill that has lead to their great fortune. Proof that they're mostly just lucky and willing to be evil, and not necessarily smart.

[u/Zestyclose-Height-36 → u/PoL0]

and bring back inheritance taxes over a million and close the trust stuff that keeps the wealthy from ever paying.

[u/kahlzun → u/Zestyclose-Height-36]

I'm hesitant to tax inheritances, that has always seemed ghoulish

[u/biggiy05 → u/kahlzun]

After a certain number it's hard to feel ghoulish let alone bad. I don't know what the exact number would be but a sliding tax based on the amount above X dollars seems like a reasonable idea. If someone is inheriting $100 million then some level of tax is fair imo.

[u/Zestyclose-Height-36 → u/biggiy05]

look, if you exempt the land, live stock and equipment value of working farms, and set the base inheritance at a million, then people leave their heirs a very good start at retirement and we taxpayers end up with far less debt to pay interest on. Current interest payments on US debt is $1 Trillion per year. We could do a LOT with a trillion a year if the people who have money helped pay off the debt. Everyone could have affordable health insurance,

[u/MinusBear → u/kahlzun]

The only time I think it ever feels ghoulish is when someone who does not own a home might inherit a home, but the act of inheriting causes a tax fee that would make them lose that home. But other than that, there probably should be some level of tax, as the person said tax over a million, that seems pretty fair. Maybe I would extend it to tax over a million per person inheriting. So if you had 5 kids and split 4.9 million evenly between them, none would pay tax. Pretty good way of making more people wealthy.