When it comes down to it, there are idiots in every sphere of life, and money can't buy class.
I have a problem with the ultra-rich, but it's more because wealth buys access to a different set of rules (just ask Hunter Biden....).
I appreciate it's only one facet of a nuanced and complex subject, but I think that a global effort to massively simplify tax systems would be a big help. Not more taxes, but less. If the tax system is simpler, there would be less loopholes for the super-rich who can afford non-dom status and the best accountants to exploit. Take Bill Gates. Almost all his money is given in donations to a charitable foundation, and thus become tax free. He then does speaking tours promoting his charity, which then gives back about 90% of it in the form of tax free gifts.
But I also wish we'd stop this notion that multinational corporations are somehow a good thing. Companies like Google and Facebook have revenues that put many countries to shame, their executives are among the super-wealthy with the influence that brings, and yet have zero accountability because of the fiction that a company is a person and thus shields the directors from personal risk.
I'm all in favour of self-improvement, and gaining from it. The problem is what the super rich do with not their money, but rather the influence it brings.
Exactly. I don't think we should make taxes more complicated at all, but I do think the ultra-wealthy in particular should actually pay taxes. My effective tax rate right now is about 40%, while folks like Bezos, Zuck, Musk, etc... all pay less than 30% effective tax rate, despite being the richest dinks on the planet. It's infuriating that we bleed the middle class so thoroughly with taxes while folks who would see it as a rounding error get so many ways to pay less. Like, when you're already a billionaire... what the fuck does an extra 100 million even matter? It's like me finding a ten dollar bill in my couch.