Source item
Open original source ↗Quoted context
These are the quoted author’s words.
Good morning @RoKhanna I suppose I’ll need someone to hold my ☕️ You demand literature proving a modest 1 to 2 percent billionaire wealth tax disincentivizes founders and VC, as if none exists. It absolutely does. The OECD’s own 2018 report admits most countries repealed wealth taxes precisely because they crushed savings, investment, entrepreneurship, and sparked capital flight while delivering laughable revenue. Tax Foundation models confirm lower after tax returns shrink the capital stock and kill risk taking. NBER paper 29359 (Stefanie Stantcheva) shows taxes on innovation rewards directly reduce inventor numbers and breakthrough quality. A 2023 Review of Finance study ties higher capital gains taxes (exactly analogous to taxing unrealized gains yearly) to smaller VC deals, fewer startup patents, and reduced innovation quantity and quality. Every real world test failed spectacularly: France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Denmark all ditched them after watching the damage. No country kept a wealth tax because it boosted growth or innovation; they all ran from the failure. A “modest” rate still means billions in forced sales of illiquid stock, wrecking founder control and screaming to every future risk taker that the ultimate payoff just got slashed. But notice what you completely ignored: every single point from my original rebuttal. You skipped the marginal incentives that actually matter, the ongoing exodus from high tax California, the historical reality that inequality fueled progress not revolutions, and especially the mirror moment: Washington already rakes in record trillions yet blows it on waste, fraud, and bloat while refusing to balance the budget. Private allocators like Jensen and Elon create massive value; government squanders it. You have no answer for why we should invent brand new taxes on creators before forcing fiscal discipline on the spenders. The evidence is overwhelming, one sided, and drawn from actual history, not hypotheticals. Ball’s in your court: contend with the original arguments you dodged, or name the real data studies showing wealth taxes increase entrepreneurship or VC investment. I’m waiting. Links for you: OECD Report: https://t.co/CK5x2vZH5a NBER Paper 29359: https://t.co/SuzPF1G5a4 Review of Finance Study: https://t.co/Zuk6AJDrbX
NickGibbsIAG ↗