Venture capitalist Tom Perkins offered a novel idea that would simultaneously change the world and ratchet the American worker’s willingness to work hard: Do away with voting rights for those who don’t pay taxes. He seemed only half-joking, CNN reported.
He also said that at the same time, wealthy earners should get votes in proportion to what they earn — a vote for each dollar earned, he said, CNN reported.
Celebrity Net Worth reported that Mr. Perkins is currently worth $8 billion.
“The Tom Perkins system is: You don’t get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes,” Mr. Perkins said, at a recent speaking engagement in San Francisco, during which he was asked to name an idea that would change the world. “But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How’s that?”
His idea was received with laughter at the Commonwealth Club, CNN reported. But CNN also reported that Mr. Perkins did not seem to share the joke. He later said on his proposal, “I intended to be outrageous, and it was,” CNN reported.
Regardless, Mr. Perkins has been a long-time defender of the rich — and long-time critic of the Obama administration and its economic and business policies.
He wrote a letter that was published in the Wall Street Journal just a month ago in which he compared what he called an assault on the wealthy to the Nazi attacks on Jews just before the Holocaust. He’s also referred to President Obama on past occasions as an “amateur” and said the attack on the rich has grown since his election, CNN reported.
An example he gave CNN on how the rich were being attacked: “Higher taxes, higher death taxes — just more taxes until there is no more 1 percent. And then that will creep down to the 5 percent and then the 10 percent.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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