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Don't threaten us with a good time, Kevin.
This idiot thinks he won't be subject to an exit tax like they have in Norway.
Not sure why this is a Beaverton article, he's actually said this in public.
Ugh, these clowns really do think the world revolves around them, huh?
They actually believe all the propaganda that simply "having wealth" creates value.
Except it doesn't, not real tangeable value. So they can fuck off. Someone or someones, can fill the void. That is kind of the idea. You earned your zillion follars, go away and let someone else try. Many someone elsees.
Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out! Just leave the money behind before you leave.
They, unfortunately, never actually move away.
Call their bluff! What have you got to lose!?
You know, I just realized, if all these guys worth and value come from their "stocks," then isn't their worth and value made up. Like, I'm always hearing we can't tax them because their incomes are somewhere else, but if we can't tax them, then they shouldn't be worth what they say they are.
Can't we put limits on stocks, or a stock's value? I mean, what's the point of being a billionaire and having a billion dollars in profit if it's just gonne be a big number to sound impressive.
Its like those video games that use really large numbers, when they serve the same purpose. Doing 1000 dmg to an enemy who has 10000 health, is essentially the same as doing 10 damage to an enemy who has 100 health. Like, why are we using these large numbers if they're all made up in the end?
I know economics ain't that simple, but I find it absurd how we call these people billionaires, yet we can't physically see or touch all the money they have. What's the point of having a billion dollars, if you can't spend the billion dollars
This has been my hang up for a while.
With real generic numbers.
Elon Musk is worth 1 trillion dollars.
But its all Tesla (or whatever) stock.
Is Elon woth 1 Trillion, or is Telsa, because it can't be both, someone is lying.
Companies have true value, so the stocks do hold real value, but the way they can be inflated skews what that worth really is. Companies have assets and revenue and profits which are measurable, but when you start looking forward things start to get murky as people try to predict future value.
Add onto that, just like people can borrow against their house, they can then borrow against these stocks, and our system is set up where they can do this tax free. So they have inflated values beyond the actual value of the stock which they can borrow against. Elon doesn't actually have a trillion dollars. If he actually tried to realize it all, he'd probably end up somewhere in the low hundreds of billions or even below that, as the market would crash as he flood it with new shares. He could try to do it over many years and he'd come out with more, but that'll take time. But he can borrow against his stock as if he had a trillion dollars which is a real problem.
I'm personally against taxing unrealized gains, but I believe at least past a certain threshold, we should figure out how to tax people borrowing against their stock indefinitely and never paying taxes. (edit: the borrowing itself also leaves a paper trail that can be used to audit and fine / jail people if they try to hide it) That's a big part of the problem were facing. They have this wealth AND they get to use it, without paying taxes. We need to tax their usage. If we tax their usage, that will alter their behaviour. They'll either keep spending and we tax it as they lose ownership, or they'll reduce spending, but keep the ownership in the companies that their shares bestow, but they can't do both.
E.g Someone worth billions will buy a house worth 10s of million of dollars, and just pledge some stock against it, and perpetually keep that loan alive until they die. Their house staff, paid the same way. They do have to pay interest on that loan, but they just can just pledge more stock against that as well.
Edit: This also works better with higher tax brackets. If they try to realize/borrow hundreds of millions of dollars, we need new tax brackets for that.
Sounds slow.
If Elon wants to claim he is a Trillionaire for ego points, fine, we tax him at that, at 100% for any worth over 1 billion dollars.
Or he can STFU and talk about his actual "value". And then we still tax the hell out of it because no one needs anywhere near that much money over ten lifetimes.
And now you've stolen the company he founded and self funded with a hundred million dollars and given it to venture capitalists and hedge funds, because of some perceived and unrealized gain.
It'd be the same for any person with a meaningful stake in a company.
Your basically advocating that once a company reaches a certain size, the founders and possibly the early investors have to give up their ownership and the influence that offers.
Edit: a company like SpaceX and countless others simply wouldn't exist under rules like that.
Edit: and that size is literally at the whim of the markets since stock values dont represent the current day value. Imagine a company being led by a founder and hedge funds scheme a plot to raise the stock price through something like a gamma squeeze to force the founder to sell shares from that temporary gain, so they can do a hostile takeover. If thats possible, itll happen.
Yeah, thats kind of the idea, they sell to others, it spreads the interest of the company out so it better represents societies needs and not the whims of one asshole. You don't want that to happen, you run it privately off its own profits without the shareholder parasite class involved.
And we don't need Space X. We fucking HAD NASA. Space was fun and hopeful but now Space is stupid because its all under the umbrella of this single Nazi asshole.
Founders often run their companies better
https://hbr.org/2016/03/founder-led-companies-outperform-the-rest-heres-why
Specifically, the study found that S&P 500 companies where the founder is still CEO are more innovative, generate 31% more patents, create patents that are more valuable, and are more likely to make bold investments to renew and adapt the business model — demonstrating a willingness to take risk to invent the future.
The "spread it out" doesn't get spread out to society, it will get spread out to other venture capitalists and hedge funds, and they are never as interested in the long term vision and plans for the company as its founders are.
Saying, sorry, you can't run the company the way you want after a certain size (edit: within the law obviously), is just plain shortsighted.
I'm not saying don't tax them when they try to realize those gains via selling or borrowing, and it can even be at incredibly high rates, but stealing the company from them is not the right decision. Make them choose, their company or the wealth it generated.
Edit: And just to be clear - yes you can be a CEO without any shares, but without your founding shares giving you influence, you won't have the same kind of influence within the company, ultimately neutering your ability to function the way you'd like and stiffling whatever vision / passion you might have.
They like to frame it that we have to tax revenue from WORK, not wealth, and we've accepted that framing. There is no reason that we have to keep following that framing. We can heavily tax their capital gains every year. They are using that as actual wealth to get loans and credit, so they are getting benefit as if that wealth actually exists, so they should have to pay taxes on it, or not use it to determine their net worth for credit.
I totally thought this was true. It seemd truer than the actual news.
this is the way I feel when they say wealthy folks will leave. I want them to. Send elon back to africa.
No, we do not want him back.
I say send him to Ascension Island, like Napoleon. That puts him the furthest away from any civilization available on this planet.
At least untill we can sens him to Venus.
St Helens is was.
I stand corrected.
But any island with 1000s of km of open ocean would do.
I'd go with something closer to the arctic circle, just for added uncomfort. Something like South Georgia Island
I think we can successfully launch him to space with his own spacex stuff. Just use a never return trajectory.
I concur with this statement. Why waste valuable resources and time trying to figure out how get the spacehip to the planet. When we can just yeet Musky into space with all the other Esptein Class parasites.
send Elon back to africa
He'd never go back because if he did that would put a lie to his whole "south Africa is doing white genocide" narrative if he could easily move back
Billionaires are parasites. All they do is take over governments to make themselves richer at your expense. There is nowhere in the world that wouldn't be a better place if their billionaires left.
The ground, six feet under anywhere on Earth, is the best place for billionaires
I hate to waste good food like that.
This got me for a sec. It's one of the most believable headlines from the onion I've read.
wealth tax everywhere!
if we can't eat the rich, we should at least tax them.
How much of their wealth would they exchange for not being dragged into a public square and drawn and quartered, along with their friends and families?
That's where the conversation needs to start.
They'd hire a company of mercenaries to kill anyone who started such talks before they got off the ground is how much they'd start at. Because guess what they ultimately do?
There is a more direct way to make Kevin O'Leary leave.
Deport him to Equador.
It'll certainly result in fewer deaths on Ontario lakes.
Here, here, Eh!
I want nations to institute a universal wealth tax. If you or any company you own part of operates in a country, you need to pay X% in taxes. Not necessarily all in our country. You can incorporate elsewhere, but if they tax you X-Y%, you have to pay us the remaining Y%. The idea being that there's no such thing as tax havens if you want to do business with us. Pay your share somewhere or GTFO.
And a simple solution for tax havens would be to levy a trade tax against tax haven countries approximately equivalent to what the local revenue services imagine that the amount of deferred tax wealth is currently inhabiting their shores.
I'm pretty sure they could be well paid to be very imaginative.
This guy’s personality is literally “I’m an asshole”
Good
Let them move. I promise we’ll always have rich people.
Well, we better get a move on and put one up here in America too, cuz we don't fucking want him either.
This shouldn't be considered satire. If anything, it's an understated fact.
Exactly! My first thought was, "How is this an Onion headline?"
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2026
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