Tim Bray argues the 0.1% are consolidating into a hereditary aristocracy via Dynasty Trusts and untaxed wealth, and that annual wealth taxes are the practical fix.
Key Takeaways
Bezos/Musk-style zero income tax is legal via borrowing against unrealized gains; Dynasty Trusts explicitly market “preserving family assets for future generations” in perpetuity.
IMF data cited: only 8-30% of ultra-wealth is hidden offshore, suggesting wealth taxes are harder to evade than income taxes.
Ray Madoff and Thomas Piketty both advocate taxing wealth not income, since accounting abstractions make income too easy to obscure.
A ~2%/year wealth tax starting at tens of millions is argued to leave wealthy lifestyles intact while generating significant public revenue.
Patriotic Millionaires and individuals like Avi Bryant (pre-IPO Twitter, Canadian wealth-tax advocate) show non-trivial wealthy-side support exists.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters split on homelessness causation: author links it to inequality, but critics argue mental illness and housing underbuilding are primary drivers, not wealth concentration.
Wealth-tax mechanics drew skepticism: one commenter noted that with no existing wealth taxes, there’s little current incentive to hide wealth, so the IMF “easier to hide income” finding may not hold post-implementation.
Spending reform seen as a prerequisite by several commenters: higher taxes feeding existing bureaucracy viewed as a poor trade; direct cash transfers without intermediaries floated as the cleaner mechanism.
Notable Comments
@yabones: Notes that wealth-based taxation (not income) was the historical norm for most of human civilization; the income-tax frame is only ~120 years old.
@georgeecollins: Flags Ray Madoff’s book “The Second Estate” – key proposal: make transfers into any trust a taxable event forcing capital gains realization.
