this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
483 points (99.6% liked)

politics

30600 readers
2445 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
 

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 beg 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
[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's literally the problem, United Statesians just believe money is the only thing that matters. Rape children, bomb civilians, pollute water and air


no, that's not a problem, we can look past that. If you make lots of money you are a good person, the more the better. That's just very literally how our society aligns itself.

Like it's so absurd, oh you took a sabbatical and had zero income, no vote for you! Like did the renaissance NOT happen? What is going on in our country??

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

If you make lots of money you are a good person, the more the better. That’s just very literally how our society aligns itself.

Gotta love the prosperity gospel. It is, in fact, God that makes you rich if you're a good person. Not exploitation of labour. And God makes you poor or gives you bad health if you're a bad person.

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Because thats how the rich see the 99.8% that isn't them, duh.

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 2 points 1 day ago

Other ledgers have him under worthless

[–] Bluedragon012@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

So when we gonna start tracking the movements of these evil people so it easier for people to Luigi them?

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Because he's a piece of shit

[–] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 157 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

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 49 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 3 days ago (9 children)

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

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Sabin10@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago

Does one vote matter if you can buy thousands?

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

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

[–] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I've always liked the idea of once you hit $999,999,999 net worth, everything above that is 100% taxed and you get a little trophy that says "Congratulations on Winning Capitalism" and you get your name of the wall of a local bar.

[–] Archimedes@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

captain logical you got em.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days 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.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 44 points 3 days ago (3 children)

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 27 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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 13 points 3 days 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)
[–] wizbiz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, billionaires should not exist

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] steveLeo@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] SoloCritical@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

The finest trait a CEO in a capitalist world could have,

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 40 points 3 days 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.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is no war but the Class War.

[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I agree. Working class produces and every other class lives off of them.

[–] Derpenheim@lemmy.zip 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (5 children)

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 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 24 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

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

They are almost always mutually exclusive.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Noobnarski@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Nobody here sent them to you. They came because they could get away with such behaviour and even get rewarded for it in the US.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 3 days 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.

[–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

"pine"?

As in "their necks pined for the guillotine"

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Woops! Forgot a word. Ty!

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago

When we claw back power, and there are social programs to cover healthcare, college, day care, etc., it will be necessary to harshly punish Sociopathic Oligarchs for their ongoing crimes (they won't be able to stop, they are mentally ill, they can't help themselves), up to, and including full confiscation of their wealth, leaving them penniless, homeless, and naked.

They will not be eligible for those social programs. They can live on the streets, and eat pigeons.

[–] UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 3 days 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.

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

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

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] raze2012@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

that blood tank needs tyrant blood refilling

load more comments
view more: next ›