It would be better if we mainly taxed consumption directly. If you are a billionaire but spend $100k/yr I am fine with you paying the same taxes as anyone else spending $100k/yr.
I believe that taxing people proportionally on income earned by labor is a unifying element of a social contract. i.e., we are all contributing to the common good. Income from capital is "free money." You didn't work for it; you took it from somebody else in the form of interest, dividends, or some other rent-seeking financial magic.
At some point, wealth becomes corrosive to society. People acquire it just for the sake of acquiring more and building their personal power. It seems that wealth is used to build more mechanisms of rent-seeking to further extract money from people who make their money through labor.
That kind of non-beneficial use of wealth, rent-seeking, and financial magic should be the target of any tax system before taxing money earned by labor.
It's short-sighted to think Page doesn't pay taxes nor contribute to California in significant, meaningful ways.
California just traded what was supposed to be a one-time (lol) tax on total net worth - not liquid assets or even income - for generations of extracting value from the Page family.
I get it's fashionable to hate on billionaires right now - but this is just plainly terrible government policy. California should be encouraging people like Page to move here - not push them away.
It's also short-sighted to assume Google will remain in Mountain View just because it's there today. What makes SV so special today that Boston, Austin, Denver, Orlando, etc don't offer? What about the "Next Google"? Will it's founders even start a business in California?
That's what we should be concerned about - create a climate where it's not even a question where to build your company; California should be the obvious right answer.
[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2026/02/09/ame...
> All of which pay taxes
I think not.
> It's short-sighted to think Page doesn't pay taxes nor contribute to California in significant, meaningful ways.
Provide documentation and numbers, otherwise this alleged "significant" contribution is just hand-waving.
> generations of extracting value from the Page family
If Larry can just up and leave now, on very short notice, then there's absolutely zero guarantee of any future "generations" of value.
> I get it's fashionable to hate on billionaires right now
Fashionable? Why do you think it's fashionable now? For no reason?
> California should be encouraging people like Page to move here
It's a total perversion of the fundamental idea of capitalism that governments are competing for companies and wealthy people. That's not how capitalist competition is supposed to work.
> What about the "Next Google"? Will it's founders even start a business in California?
Larry and Sergey met at Stanford as students. They didn't choose a state because of tax policy.
Let me offer a public benefit to driving away the billionaires who refuse to pay higher taxes: less local spending on politicians, i.e., corruption.
It's tough to slim down on spending. Be it individuals or governments and quasi-governmental organizations. Companies can swiftly implement spending cuts and RIFs --sometimes aggressively.
Governments, though, there are threads throughout --elected officials often trade support for positions and favoritism and if they take those away, so do many of their fiercest people who get out the vote. Also, their voters are averse to having the services they've grown accustomed to getting cut.
So sometimes you need that official who knows he or she is a one termer but will go in and cut and cut. People will hate them but it will allow the government a chance to make a turnaround.