Sunday, June 08, 2008

Tax the Rich even more, say the majority!

According to an FT/Harris poll well over 60% of Americans believe that the rich should be taxed more. This is actually higher than the proportion of Chinese, Italians, Britons or French. It suggests that US business has failed to convince the majority of the electorate that top executives really justify their compensation. This is an attitude which eventually politicians will take into account.

It is an absolute need that executives share their achievements as openly as they are increasingly having to share compensation packages. Yet, this is something which business has not yet absorbed, in particular such industries as health-care and private equity.

1 comment:

Jonathan said...

Fortunately for the rich, they're usually relatively mobile and can escape high taxes if they choose to.

Though, given the unusual US system of taxing citizens wherever they are, I understand that it's necessary to renounce US citizenship to avoid paying US taxes.