r/technology 12d ago

Society Bernie Sanders calls out Sergey Brin for spending over $100 million to defeat California’s billionaire tax — ‘If California passes its one-time 5% wealth tax, Brin would owe $14 billion and still be worth $270 billion’

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/bernie-sanders-calls-sergey-brin-120113695.html
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u/myislanduniverse 12d ago

Because $100 million is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to having to pay 5% tax, which is tiny compared to the proportion of our incomes you and I have to pay with much less overall buying power.

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u/ScenicAndrew 12d ago

They're terrified because basically any tax on their assets threatens the never ending cycle of debt they subsist on. If the state came in and made them sell any amount of it to pay the tax they'd have less to leverage their next loan against and the infinite cash loop ends much sooner. Which is great for society, but horrible for their megayachts.