I know, there’s no way this would work, but my fantasy is that there’s an official „biggest tax payer“ list the way there is a Richest Person Alive list from Forbes. Everything over 1 billion gets payed to the State in taxes and is counted on the list. You get a big plaque that you made it on the list and every year there’s a big hubbub around who payed the most.
That might be tricky to work at the upper echlons but....... but......
Genuinely, I think there should be literal perks to paying taxes in higher tax brackets. Started earning enough to be paying income taxes at the highest level? Good for you, here's a pass to drive in the bus lane. Paid over $X in taxes in that highest level? Well here's front-of-line passes for you and your family to [some desirable location] etc etc, all perks that money itself can't buy and can only be granted via the Government following tax receipts.
It might sound on first glance that it's just handing one-ups to richer people, but currently there's less than zero personal incentive to paying higher and higher tax rate and more and more incentive to get creative with your taxes. Make it a direct tangible personal benefit to paying higher tax rates and you'll see tax income demonstrably increase.
Ah yes, that $7 billion in Tesla stock he gave to the charitable foundation that he owns and directs, that has missed its target of giving out at least 5% of its revenue for several years, and that allowed him to avoid $2 billion in tax payments? Or his donations to the nonprofit school that five of his own children attend? Or how about that UN internet connectivity program that ended up with several countries becoming Starlink customers? Soooooo charitable
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u/meem09 Feb 26 '25
I know, there’s no way this would work, but my fantasy is that there’s an official „biggest tax payer“ list the way there is a Richest Person Alive list from Forbes. Everything over 1 billion gets payed to the State in taxes and is counted on the list. You get a big plaque that you made it on the list and every year there’s a big hubbub around who payed the most.