386
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Sunflier@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, whose company commands a market capitalization near $154 billion, told his social media followers this week that a tax-tiered voting system—one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax—would be a “good system.”

That two-word endorsement, dropped into a viral thread, has reignited a debate over wealth, power, and democracy that most Americans thought was settled more than a century ago.

The proposal would invert the founding American principle of “no taxation without representation” into something closer to “no representation without taxation”—and specifically, high taxation. Reactions online split sharply: Some framed it as a provocative thought experiment about aligning fiscal responsibility with political voice, while others called it a naked attempt to legitimize plutocracy by giving billionaires and multimillionaires a formal, multiplied vote over the laws that govern everyone else.

But it also revealed that America is grappling with a political economy debate, as a frozen housing market and an entrenched wealthy baby boomer demographic have many, not just Lütke, arguing that something big needs to change

At this point, their necks practically for the guillotine's blade. They keep reminding us:

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of . . . tyrants.

-Thomas Jefferson in November 13, 1787, letter to William Stephens Smith.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Because he's a Fascist worth $154B. Mystery solved.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Because the Ouroborus of capitalism has eaten around to the point it can see the back of its own head, and now it only has two solutions left.

maximize short term profits at the expense of everything else, and secure their position via buying governments/overthrowing governments/becoming government, in order to secure the constant flow of money and goods upwards to them.

[-] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

How about no vote if your net worth is above 100m and you pay less than 25% in tax annually

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Because the rich think they're better than us and have stopped fearing us

[-] Archimedes@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 hours ago

But everyone pays taxes, even the unemployed. Every purchase has taxes on it. For this proposal to work as he wants, the entire tax burden will have to be transferred to the income tax. Enjoy the tax hike and labor crisis.

[-] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Thanks fucking captain logical you got em.

[-] wizbiz 21 points 23 hours ago

Perfect example as to why wealthy people shouldn't exist. Why should this unelected idiot have this much social power to even propose this?

[-] FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works 5 points 21 hours ago

Yeah, billionaires should not exist

[-] osanna@lemmy.vg 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

hell, I don't think people should have more than a few million at most. Just enough to perhaps buy ONE house and afford food. Billionaires have no place when there are people starving and barely managing to survive. They really are scum, aren't they :/

(gonna add me again, Admiral Patrick?)

[-] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 132 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax

So he's in favor of stripping the voting rights of billionaires?

[-] Waterpumpee@lemmus.org 42 points 1 day ago

i think thats his argument. make billionaires pay tax to compete for policies. basically calling bribes tax or real life p2w, which it is currently but legal.

My take is, sack all of these billionaires and idiots on an remote small little island and let them figure out how they wanna govern themselves.

[-] tutter 17 points 1 day ago

Like atlas shrugged? i like it! If we use the Randian framing they'll probably eat it up!

"nooo dont leave whatever will we do without someone to boss us around noooo please dont isolate yourself on a remote island pleeeeeease"

and then just not let em back in if they try

[-] hoppeduponcoffee@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago

The self-serving “anarcho-capitalist” whore that died dependent on Medicare and social security.

[-] Enkrod@feddit.org 10 points 1 day ago

HEY! Don't do whores dirty like that.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Sabin10@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Does one vote matter if you can buy thousands?

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 37 points 1 day ago

Tobias Lütke is a German born Canadian. Why is he commenting about US elections at all? He has never voted in the US.

[-] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Because he makes money from it, capitalism and fascism have no borders.

Edit: and I'm sure he's voted with his dollars.

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago

Because he hates democracy everywhere, and thinks the US might be the next to fall, if it hasn't already.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca 14 points 23 hours ago

The shopify CEO wants to strip voting rights from people that don't pay taxes. So, 18-20 something year olds that don't have income and get claimed as a dependent. SAH mom's that get claimed as a dependent.

Fuck Tobias Lütke with a barbed wire wrapped dildo. Germany, Canada, please come pick up your trash.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Yeah the highly notable people Germany has been sending our way lately have largely sucked. The appreciation for Kim Petras can only go so far when we're also getting this guy and Thiel from them.

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 12 hours ago

People who don't pay taxes? Why would a billionaire want to disenfranchise billionaires? 🤔

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 21 hours ago

Stah moms pay taxes, we file jointly with our partners. It would be the young adult dependents and the rich people that live on loans instead of income, so they don't have to pay tax.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

It would also be people who make little enough to get a full return. That's who they really want to disenfranchise

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah that's a good point

[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

I think he may be onto something.

Perhaps there's some way to tie the weight of your vote to the ratio of taxes paid divided by wealth?

So, if you have billions in assets+wages, but pay less taxes than a guy earning minimum wage, your vote would essentially be completely ignored.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

The problem is that combines with progressive taxation to fuck over the poor. It would prioritize high income low investment people

[-] Sunflier@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Under that idea, what happens to the vote of people who make too little to pay taxes? What if they don't have taxes because they don't have a job? What if you don’t pay taxes because you're homeless and don't have an address?

[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

Well clearly, for those people the only fair way to handle it is to default to a vote weight of 1.0

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 7 points 21 hours ago

I'm reading this as taking power away from the ruling class, not giving it. Rich people don't live on income, they live on loans guaranteed against their companies and off shore wealth right? They purposely keep low to no income, so they don't have to pay income tax. This way, if they do that, it will take away their vote.

[-] Derpenheim@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 day ago

??? The richest people wouldnt vote. They pay no income tax, famously.

[-] 4am@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

I wonder if this is what he meant but somehow I doubt it

[-] Australis13@fedia.io 37 points 1 day ago

Yet another reason for me to dislike Shopify.

I already hated that all the small retailers I use have migrated to it and it pushes you to set up an account so that it can connect all my purchasing habits together from what should be independent retailers.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The problem here is that we have confused "financial success" with "merit".

They are almost always mutually exclusive.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

Universal suffrage was a mistake. Maybe a confederation of workers councils would be better.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

So long as there are councils for those unable to work for any number of reasons. At the very least a disabled council and a reserve labor force (unemployed but willing to work) council

[-] raze2012@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Nah you're think backwards. Who votes and influences policy the most? Old people. Why? They have time to go to townhalls (which are often scheduled during the work week times), they have time to line up at the polls. Politicians famously only listen to calls and many haven't updated their communications for the 21st century to take in new forms of communication.

So there's two clear solutions here.

  1. Mandatory voting. This includes making voting days holidays (to give people time) and removing any current obstacles that keep people from voting.
  2. Citizens need modern, local forums. We really shouldn't be on a private social media where anyone can yell at a politician in order to get news on policy. Tie these forums to voter's state ID and monitor them for feedback on proposals and bills.

That's the bare minimum.

[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago

You are assuming that the outcome of American democracy reflects the will of the people and that voters react to politicians not meeting their needs by voting them out. That is absolutely not the case. Universal Healthcare is consistently the most important issue to voters, but no politician, not even the Democrats has ever lost their election for refusing to endorse Universal Healthcare. Additionally no politician has ever lost their job because they gave tax breaks to corporations even though there is no case where giving a tax break to Amazon, et al, improves any of their constituents lives.

Back to Healthcare, Obama Care literally made the insurance industry hugely rich, reduced the quality of care across all demographics, and caused the absolute healthcare crisis we are in today and yet every single idiot liberal will call it a win even if the outcomes were worse for literally everyone.

[-] UpperBroccoli 14 points 1 day ago

But it also revealed that America is grappling with a political economy debate, as a frozen housing market and an entrenched wealthy baby boomer demographic have many, not just Lütke, arguing that something big needs to change.

Ja, I agree! People like him need to vanish. That is to say, there must not be any billionairs. They only exist because they take away value from those that work to produce it. In other words, they steal from workers, both domestic and foreign.

By law or by guillotine - those bastards need to go.

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 1 day ago

Okay, but if you're going to do that, those who pay more in taxes as a ratio to their net wealth should have more votes.

Also fuck shopify.

[-] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

A “good system” would never allow billionaires to exist, and would entail a solution for the ones that already do.

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

This leads to the old "lead based voting system".

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago

Oh, you mean the citizen's veto?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] xenomor@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Does anyone have tips for how to identify (and avoid) sites that use shopify?

[-] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

that blood tank needs tyrant blood refilling

[-] Jaysyn@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Zier@fedia.io 9 points 1 day ago

I would like to "vote" for a system where businesses pay a minimum of 35% tax, no exceptions or deductions.

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

Most "nouveau rich" want to keep their wealth forever and will burn everything down to make it possible. The "I got mine!" is strong with this group. The "old money rich" will eventually extract that wealth from them over time because they are "players" and this is old hat to them.

Whatever. That guy is a never nude.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Eiri@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

Is he trying to radicalize people? Damn, that's just comic book evil.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
386 points (100.0% liked)

politics

30578 readers
2127 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS