NicholasGibbs@NickGibbsIAG
Sad to see @RoKhanna become another politician who has no economic literacy. Now hold my 🥃
Your case for a billionaire wealth tax falls apart on every key point.
You say founders like Jensen Huang would not be deterred by a 1 to 2 percent annual tax on unrealized gains because he was not thinking about taxes in 1993. That is irrelevant. No one calculates distant taxes on day one. The issue is marginal incentives: slashing the ultimate reward after decades of risk forces stock sales to pay the tax and deters the next wave of founders. Pretending this has zero behavioral effect is economic nonsense.
You brag the Bay Area has 37 times Austin’s VC and Florida “is not on the map.” That is stale data ignoring the exodus already underway. California loses high earners and companies yearly because of crushing taxes and rules. Tesla, Oracle, HPE did not relocate to Texas for the barbecue. Adding a federal wealth tax accelerates the bleed. Clusters are not immortal.
You note public funding built foundational tech: NSF, DARPA, universities. True, but irrelevant to the conclusion. Public money funds research; private risk turns it into world changing companies. Capping rewards for that private step means fewer breakthroughs get commercialized. Basic incentive economics.
You warn of revolutions from inequality, citing history. History says the opposite: Britain’s brutal industrial inequality drove the fastest living standard gains ever. Real wages soared eventually. 1848 and 1917 stemmed from tyranny and war, not rich people. America’s Gilded Age was far more unequal than today and built the 20th century prosperity engine. Punishing success slows the growth that lifts everyone.
You claim a wealth tax boosts innovation. Reality: nearly every OECD country that tried one scrapped it (France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Denmark) because it raised peanuts, sparked capital flight, and hurt growth. The track record is a total failure.
And the mirror moment: Washington already hauls in record $5 trillion plus yearly yet runs trillion dollar deficits through waste, fraud, and bloat. Hundreds of billions vanish annually on duplication and improper payments. Before inventing new taxes on the tiny group creating real value, demand government live within its means. Jensen Huang and Elon Musk allocate capital with ruthless efficiency; government is the worst allocator on earth. Feeding its irresponsibility is not justice; it is complicity.
Wealth is not a fixed pile to slice up; it is the return on risk that grows the entire economy. Taxing it punitively does not enlarge anyone’s share; it shrinks tomorrow’s pie for all.
A billionaire tax would not save innovation or democracy. It would cripple both. Your position is not just wrong; it is upside down.
