As beautifully highlighted by gaming media giants, Kotaku, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney is upset about the billionaire tax that is currently being proposed in US congress. Because taxes are for the poor, we guess. The problem is, he may have missed the mark on figuring out exactly what this proposed bill will do.
The bill aims to close one of the ultrarich’s most beloved loopholes that affords them the opportunity to completely ‘circumnavigate’ pesky income taxes by sitting on assets and borrowing money cheaply. This is how billionaires spend their vast fortunes - by not spending it at all until the day they die. An oh-so-wiley strategy known as “buy, borrow and die.”
In a Twitter thread last week, the Epic Games CEO & Owner of gaming phenomena Fortnite decried the proposal, stating that the bill would “likely end founder control of lots of independent companies - perhaps including Epic Games.”
The Billionaires Tax will bring the billionaire tax rate from basically nothing to around the same level as middle-class Americans. This is a problem for billionaires, who don’t like paying taxes. Like most people.
Every time a company’s value doubles, the government would force founders like me to sell 25% of our stake to pay the government. Epic’s value has doubled 8 times in the past 5 years. If this tax scheme had been place, I’d have been forced to liquidate nearly my entire ownership.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 27, 2021
However, despite Tim’s claims, many have been quick to point out that it’s not nearly as bad as he’s making out. For instance, a provision in the bill will allow billionaires to set aside $1 billion aside as non-taxable. And when you consider that it would take someone on an average salary ($46,800) and with no expenses 21,000 years to make that amount - we think we'll be saving our tears this time around. Suffice to say, the internet's responses have not been kind. We'd share some here but they're NSFW.
In the week where it was announced that the world might see its first individual trillionaire, we think more should be put towards the good causes we highlight in our Feelgood Gaming Fridays segment. Wherever you stand on the matter, the likelihood that this reasonable tax proposal will affect us in any way is slim to absolutely zilch. So we can rest easy, even if the multi-billionaires can’t.
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