Xi just sent a tough message to China’s super-rich during a top-level finance committee of the CCP, on income equity:- Excessively high income to be reasonably adjusted - Regulation for high-income group to be strengthened- Illegal income to be resolutely banned pic.twitter.com/DhrmRIgdZO— Stuart Lau (@StuartKLau) August 17, 2021
I don’t think that income is the key at all. No one became a billionaire because of their high income. You become a billionaire by capturing markets, creating monopolies and crafting policies.
You can easily be a billionaire, yet your income is so low that you don’t pay income tax. Lots of CEOs are on no or low incomes, yet they are still pretty well off. No idea how this is handled in China, but the fact that there are billionaires tells me it’s probably not that different.
Income does not address structural inequalities (such as people being billionaires). That is why you can’t just work hard and get to the top. Structural inequalities are caused by the way access to things is granted today, right now. And that access is wealth.
“A one-off 99 percent levy on billionaires’ wealth gains during the pandemic could pay for everyone on Earth to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide a $20,000 cash grant to all unemployed workers, according to new analysis released today by Oxfam”
One year of profits only… This is literally insane!
Any policy that focuses on balancing income is, in my opinion, so misguided that it is hard to see how to not classify it as propaganda for the ruling class.
I don’t think that income is the key at all. No one became a billionaire because of their high income. You become a billionaire by capturing markets, creating monopolies and crafting policies.
You can easily be a billionaire, yet your income is so low that you don’t pay income tax. Lots of CEOs are on no or low incomes, yet they are still pretty well off. No idea how this is handled in China, but the fact that there are billionaires tells me it’s probably not that different.
Income does not address structural inequalities (such as people being billionaires). That is why you can’t just work hard and get to the top. Structural inequalities are caused by the way access to things is granted today, right now. And that access is wealth.
The other thing with wealth inequality is to look at how much a billion really is. Billionaires are obscenely rich, like King Midas style rich. The fact that this type of inequality exists is mind boggling. Oxfam estimates that:
“A one-off 99 percent levy on billionaires’ wealth gains during the pandemic could pay for everyone on Earth to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide a $20,000 cash grant to all unemployed workers, according to new analysis released today by Oxfam”
One year of profits only… This is literally insane!
Any policy that focuses on balancing income is, in my opinion, so misguided that it is hard to see how to not classify it as propaganda for the ruling class.