Donald Trump and Silicon Valley's Billionaire Elegy

Andreessen talks astir the connection arsenic if it were Putin himself invading Atherton, California, the elite zip codification wherever helium resided until recently. If this taxation is imposed, helium says, investors volition exit the marketplace and innovations won’t beryllium funded. “Number one, you termination startups and task capital. So congratulations, you termination the exertion industry, essentially,” helium says. “Number two, you termination the California taxation base—California is done!”

But the carnage doesn’t halt there, says Andreessen. Once the authorities gets a sensation of this caller taxation connected the rich, it volition privation more, more, more, until yet this endangered people of affluent investors volition beryllium sucked dry. Then the authorities volition spell aft the wealthiness of radical who aren’t ace affluent but simply precise rich. Sooner oregon later, we’ll each beryllium paying wealthiness taxes! “Presto, chango, we’re Argentina!” says Horowitz, with Andreessen rapidly seconding this doom scenario.

Before we cue up the soundtrack to Evita, let’s backmost up a minute. There’s nary grounds that a taxation connected unrealized gains would extremity task capital. If Andreessen and Horowitz packed it successful for taxation purposes, others would leap astatine the accidental to play the lucrative startup lottery—even if, deity forbid, they had to wage immoderate taxes pre-IPO connected spectacular gains.

But there’s besides small crushed to deliberation this taxation volition hap astatine all. The Biden connection is conscionable that—a proposal. Changing the taxation codification requires Congressional action. At the precise slightest Congress would code immoderate of the tenable objections that Andreessen raises, similar the anticipation that an capitalist summation mightiness beryllium measured successful a impermanent highest of a company’s valuation. But it’s overmuch much apt that Congress volition cull this, adjacent if the nationalist wants to spot the precise affluent wage their due. Consider the wholly indefensible carried involvement loophole, which allows fat-cat hedge money and backstage equity executives to flight taxes. Despite near-universal statement that this is simply a full scam—even Bill Ackman called it “a stain connected the taxation code”—and Biden’s vow to destruct it, it’s inactive with us. The thought that a brand-new wealthiness taxation desperately opposed by the nation’s biggest governmental donors volition get done a divided Congress is simply a hallucination that adjacent ChatGPT wouldn’t propose.

Andreessen and Horowitz are astute capable to cognize this, truthful their objections travel disconnected arsenic some paranoid and self-interested. But I deliberation there’s thing much happening, an constituent that’s often cited to explicate wherefore immoderate Silicon Valley radical person turned to Trump: They resent however the media, immoderate of the “woke” population, and left-leaning politicians don’t admit them, and adjacent vilify them. In Trumpland, their wealthiness and the contented supposedly associated with it is respected.

To his credit, Andreessen expresses this grievance retired loud. He fondly looks backmost to the days erstwhile Democrats catered to his cohort. “They were pro-tech, they were pro-startup,” helium says. “You could marque a batch of money, and past you springiness the wealth distant successful philanthropy, and you get tremendous recognition for that. And it absolves you of, whatever.” He was connected that way himself, helium says, until critics turned connected billionaires who were giving distant their money. His eyes opened erstwhile helium saw what happened aft Mark Zuckerberg announced his intent to springiness distant astir each his wealth to his foundation; radical thought helium was doing it for himself, to boost his company’s reputation. What’s the constituent of giving each that wealth away, Andreessen seems to beryllium saying, if you aren’t celebrated for it? (Um, to bash good? To wage nine backmost for each that wealth you made and paid minimal taxes on?)