this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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Proposition 40, which will be on the ballot in November, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on California’s 200 billionaires,

These fucks will do anything to avoid paying taxes...

with 90% of the revenue from the proposed measure going toward the state’s health care program and 10% going toward education, food assistance, and administration. Brin, with a net worth of nearly $260 billion, could owe about $13 billion as a result of the tax.

Can't be contributing to "socialism" I guess? Get some of that $260 billion liquid and pay up, dickhead.

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[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 4 points 48 minutes ago

A one-time money infusion is terrible policy. I support it because taxes should be re-distributive, but there is no way to budget a sustainable social policy that way. If the tax policy was more progressive and most importantly assessed annually (and nationally) it would be a huge win.

[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

It is amazing the amount of money and effort Billionaires put into avoiding paying taxes. They aren't hated enough.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 13 points 5 hours ago

I dont care how many billions he's gonna lose

It's literally a one-time 5% tax.

The more money they scream they're gonna lose the more I can see them afford to pay

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 7 points 6 hours ago

Do they all just have the most generally punchable faces? Or do their faces just become our idea of what is punchable?

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 20 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

And he'll still be a billionaire after that.

[–] Napster153@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago

Imaginary money. By this point, their only still a hpper class because the pedestal under them hasn't collapsed.

[–] IamMoonPie@lemmy.world 9 points 10 hours ago

Or… and hear me out here… we take his money away from him and leave him in a deep pit on a small uninhabited island.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

DON'T BUY THE BULLSHIT...YES ON 40.

[–] stylishboar@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

And no on 41 and 42

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 61 points 15 hours ago

God I fucking hate the rich. He's spending thousands of times my yearly pay just to avoid paying less in taxes than I do

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 44 points 14 hours ago

Pay your taxes, you fucking parasite.

[–] DickHertz@lemmy.world 81 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Bring back pre-Reagan tax rates on the rich.

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 35 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Those 1950s glory days that Republicans keep harkening back to involved Ike, a Republican president, taxing the [very] wealthy ~~like 52% (fake viral posts say 90%).~~ at a rate of around 90%.

EDIT: Corrected based off of comments. The 52% rates seem to be more common among the "wealthy" at the time, but in comparison to billionaires today, the 90% rate would be more accurate. The "fake viral posts" is in reference to memes that make it sound like every person who counted as "wealthy" were taxed at 90%. I realize I could have written all of that more clearly.

[–] hraegsvelmir@ani.social 20 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Is it fake viral posts, or just people not understanding how marginal tax rates work or how they differ from your effective tax rate again? The highest tax rate did cross over 90% at the tail end of WWII, but very few people actually had to pay taxes at that rate, and even then, their effective tax rate would have been much lower.

Edit: Just to illustrate, this site has historical tax rates for the period in question. For the sake of simplifying then math, I'm doing this assuming you only paid 3% income tax on income up to $100,000/year, and 94% on earnings above that with the surtax. Source for the income numbers is straight out of my ass, but it doesn't really matter, as it's only to illustrate the point. So, say that year, you managed to make $110,000. You would pay 3% on your first $100,000 in taxable income, and 94% on the remaining $10,000 you earned above that, making your effective rate 11.27% across your whole income, with a tax liability of $12,400. You can have both lower effective tax rates and higher marginal tax rates for your highest earners without either one negating the truth of the other.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 1 points 5 hours ago

It's worth noting that the tax rate might be 90, but the effective taxation is a much lower percentage of the earnings.

Corporate Tax is calculated after costs, while personal tax is calculated more or less directly on earnings and then you need to cover your costs from whatever remains. This might explain the confusion.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040--1955.pdf

1955 top income tax bracket is 91% for single income over $200k ($2.5M today). IDK what's fake about that, except if you don't understand the concept of bracketing taxes.

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 1 points 9 minutes ago

The problem is that no one actually paid that, during that same time period tax avoidance was stupidly easy. The average tax rate for the highest earners (over 200k) rarely paid over 45%. Still higher than the average of today, but nowhere near what most people claim about the time.

Plus, before 1986 a lot of the really rich people who could afford to lobby politicians used to be able to create "riffle-shot provisions" basically highly personalized tax carve outs created for them by individual politicians.

The most famous individual tax carveout in American history occurred in the Revenue Act of 1951. Louis B. Mayer, the mega-wealthy head of Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), wanted to retire and cash out his massive share of the studio's future profits. Under normal rules, this lump sum would be taxed as personal income at a whopping 91% rate. Mayer hired a powerful Washington lobbyist who worked with standard-setting politicians to write a highly specific amendment. The law stated that a taxpayer could treat a retirement payout as a lower-taxed capital gains distribution (taxed at only 25%), but only if: • The taxpayer had been employed by the company for more than 20 years. • They had held a contractual right to a share of future profits for at least 12 years. • They had been entitled to these rights for at least 5 years after termination of employment. • The entire payout occurred in a single block in one tax year. The criteria were so incredibly specific that Louis B. Mayer and one other MGM executive were the only two people in the United States who qualified. It saved Mayer an estimated $2 million ($23+ million in today's money).

[–] TeaWithDani@lemmy.world 96 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

It's just 5% of his wealth. Most people give anything from 20% to 50% of their annual income to taxes and will pay income taxes on all their retirement savings when they pull it.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 25 points 14 hours ago

I’d gladly pay 5% of my total wealth once in lieu of taxes. It’d amount to about $50. Granted all of society would grind to a fucking half if us workers weren’t paying taxes because the other leeches fucking aren’t.

[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 25 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Financial obesity is neurotoxic, an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.

Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but trillionaires should be forced to transition into billionaires, and billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 8 points 11 hours ago

Even hundred millionaires and multi-tens millionaires have too much. 10 million is more than enough for you and your children to never have to work and live a comfortable life.

Even that is too high if everyone else on the planet does not have enough for basic necessities after an honest day’s work.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 90 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Another rich tax cheat parasite like Zuckerberg and Musk.

[–] takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 12 hours ago

That have so much wealth that they wouldn't even notice and it would help with finding that were cut by Big Billionaire Bill. Including social net.

But yeah, fuck us, fuck our children and grandchildren.

If your are in California, please vote yes on prop 40, and vote NO on prop 41 and 42 (Trojan horses placed by Sergey that would block prop 40 even if it passes)

[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

We need to make readily available MANPAD blueprints using easily obtained materials.

There is no private jet that shouldn't be shot out of the sky. You don't need billions to make rich people live in fear. You just need labor.

[–] jackal@infosec.pub 2 points 12 hours ago

Me when capitalists try to make me work: fuck you; pay me.

Me when I have to work to end capitalism: oh boy, here I go again!

Time for some research on MANPADs.

[–] forkDestroyer@infosec.pub 14 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

I remember when I wanted to work for Google.

[–] dev_null@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 hours ago

Google was legitimately a force for good at one point. It's hard to believe 2 decades later.

[–] crypt0cler1c@infosec.pub 7 points 12 hours ago

Don't be evil

[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 8 points 12 hours ago

Imagine another headline for the same facts:

"Google cofounder so rich he could afford to pay $13 billion in taxes"

[–] likebudda@reddthat.com 13 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

My YTD return on my 401k is 16%. If a billionaire can't make 5% they're not much of a billionaire.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

On the contrary, that’s exactly why they are billionaires. They can’t means they don’t want to and no one in power is willing to make them to.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago
[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 30 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

They don't want to pay because most net worth over a couple hundred million is straight up made up. He couldn't get 13billion liquid if he tried nor could most billionaires.

[–] eurodyne@piefed.world 37 points 17 hours ago

Exactly. Because that money does not actually exist anywhere other than in their imaginations.

Still, fuck ‘em. Just like they’ve been fucking the rest of us for decades.

[–] toomanypancakes@crazypeople.online 20 points 17 hours ago

Sounds like a skill issue to me.

[–] protist@retrofed.com 13 points 16 hours ago

I wonder if he's tried not ordering avocado toast and making coffee at home

[–] dudeface@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

There is plenty of millionaires that want to be taxed more, billionaire wealth hoarders are psychopaths though

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Plenty will say whatever is popular, then donate to candidates who do the exact opposite.

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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 12 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Unfortunately, based on the polling, it sounds like it's been working. Fuck this stupid wealth worshipping culture.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago

Welfare Queen

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago

It's easy to tell who government serves; The rulers are the ones paying the least taxes.

You can tell when our government "sold out"; it's when taxes were cut severely (for billionaires) way back in the 80s by Reagan and Republican party

You can tell the Democrats are in on it because they never restore those taxes (which they could do whenever they'd like).

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 4 points 15 hours ago

I know some public schools (about 10 thousand) that could use a piece of that $13 billion, if we can manage not to waste it on the popo

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

That 5% return on 260. He’ll never know it’s gone.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

A billion here. A billion there. Pretty soon, you're talking about a lot of money.

The dirty truth is that it's far cheaper to bribe officials not to tax you then it is to pay taxes.

[–] joedinkle@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

I wish I could pay that much in taxes

[–] ech@lemmy.ca 4 points 15 hours ago

The math is always easy on these things - the millions paid to fight progress is always a fraction of what they expect to lose if it passes, making it simple to know why they oppose these changes instead of the nonsense propaganda they spread.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

It's California. He won't lose while Gavin Newsom and his friends are in power.

[–] obviouspornalt@fedinsfw.app 1 points 12 hours ago

i'd be willing to bet that goog has declined 5% or more in a single day more than 50 times since IPO.

[–] kingkong@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

should make the tax every year. not just 1 yr

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