Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

robinhood

Fascinating to see how many tech people, as soon as they get rich, turn to extreme. Name them all - they mostly all are very active on X, and each new tweet pushes the limits of what was previously deemed unacceptable. I'm rich, so my opinion must be more important, right?

rekttrader

https://archive.is/wS6IH

ablation

Why did a billionaire propose biasing the voting system towards the rich? Gee I wonder.

voidfunc

I dont think its a good model for America but if I were starting a country from scratch I might consider it. But I would also do stuff like a heavy death estate tax and disallow most generational wealth transfer.

tomlockwood

"Let them eat cake!"

croes

How about that: If you are a billionaire you lose your voting rights because you are already powerful enough and don’t need that extra power

masfuerte

Money is power. That is the problem with extreme wealth. It provides unaccountable power outside the democratic process. It is not surprising that an already powerful man wants even more power, but I do not understand why anyone else would go along with this.

WithinReason

No representation without taxation?

goldcd

Somebody needs to introduce some sort of buddy system for billionaires. This would allow them to air their dumb opinions in private to normal people, where they could be gently mocked like the rest of us. Currently there seems to be a dangerously quick pipeline for them between a thought passing through their minds, and millions being made aware. God help me if you all knew the things I've said over the years..

andrefmrocha

Another example of why we will have to eat the rich or die trying

piker

The article is paywalled, but isn’t he Canadian? Who cares what he thinks.

jchallis

Lutke is a German who has lived in Canada for decades. Why comment on American tax policy ? Seems out of his lane .

cryptos

Somehow money seem to damage personality. It's the same with David Heinemeier Hansson (who know Tobias Lütke in person), Elon Musk and many other folks.

taybin

The thing about this that's so distasteful is that it removes the basis of enfranchisement from being the inherent worth of a human life and moves it more to "what have you done for me lately". It's pretty gross.

andsoitis

> one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax It could be an interesting thought experiment to consider the second and third order consequences, even if, from first principles this is a non-starter in a democratic society. First off all, what percent of people do not pay any taxes on income? What portion of them are poor vs. hedge fund managers or other super wealthy people who have structured their income in a way as to pay zero or near-zero income taxes? Would the latter be disincentivized from continuing those regimes? Regardless, if you work at Shopify, you should consider quitting. You do not have to work for a crazy person like that.

duped

Shopify seems to have a fascist problem.

inerte

In the US the rich already has more public power than the poor... from lobbying to donations to "speech". I guess making it official would save them from all this work and simplify things?

vivekd

I think the title is inaccurate and a bit inflammatory. He's not advocating stripping most Americans of their voting rights. He's advocating stripping a tiny minority of Americans of their voting rights - specifically the minority of Americans that pay no income tax

avalys

What is inherently unreasonable about the idea that only people who pay into the system get a say in how the system operates? The constitution still guarantees fundamental human rights. Another idea - everyone is eligible to vote for the presidency and House of Representatives, but only net taxpayers can vote for the Senate. The idea that there should be some kind of checks and balances on spending taxpayer money, where the people who actually pay the taxes have a special status, isn’t fundamentally incompatible with any principle that I support. Obviously the current system - where we collect $5T in taxes each year and spend $7T, creating an enormous and ever-growing debt that the system is clearly not able to control - is not working.