Patriotic millionaires want higher taxes, please

Plus: Goldman's new hire, Tesla earnings and more. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an independent director of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Tax the rich? Join [the choir](. - Goldman makes an [interesting hire](. - [The Carolinas]( are about to catch fire. - Tesla is facing quite [the quagmire](. The Rich Can [Eat]( Themselves Life is full of mysteries, but perhaps the biggest [is this](: Who in God’s name is running the [IRS’s Instagram account](? They’re out here making Stanley cup memes! “Much like your favorite water cup, the #IRS is always there when you need it.” Even if you hate the taxman, there’s no denying how glorious and, frankly un-IRS-like, this content is: But no amount of Mean Girls puns will make [tax season]( — which kicks off [next week]( — #fetch. Aside from Certified Public Accountants, there are very few people who truly enjoy [doing their taxes](. And there are even fewer who wish they were paying more taxes. But they do exist, [according to]( Merryn Somerset Webb (free read). Last week at Davos, a group of self-declared rich people (who else would be in [Switzerland]( at this time of year?) wrote [a letter]( to political leaders about the current state of extreme wealth and inequality. In said letter — signed by 260 “patriotic millionaires” — they say: “The solution is plain for all to see. You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra rich, and you have to start now.” Incredible! They just solved all our problems, right?! Not so fast, Merryn writes: “All taxes [creep](,” she explains. Even if these patriotic millionaires say their tax will be reserved for the elite, the threshold will drop eventually. “Before too long, 20% of the nation will be paying the tax — and all those who supported it on the basis that only other people would be paying it will feel a little disappointed.” Plus, nobody is currently stopping those with [private jets]( and [Rolex collections]( (Brooke Sutherland and Andrea Felsted know you’re out there) from paying more taxes. It’s actually pretty to easy to increase your tax burden, if you’re so inclined: Stop putting your money into tax-free savings vehicles, stop giving cash gifts to your kids and never start a foundation — God forbid you got a 30% income tax deduction. You could even [move]( from [Florida]( to [New York](! But if you enjoy having a charitable foundation and can’t imagine life without [Ron DeSantis](, you can also just give your money to the government, if you really want to. The US Bureau of the Fiscal Service will gladly accept gifts to reduce the public debt, as will the Debt Management Office in the UK. “There is no need to [beg]( to pay more in tax … if you really want to do so, you already can,” Merryn concludes. The IRS should put that on its Instagram account! Next to a character from [Saltburn]( or [The White Lotus](, preferably. Bonus Tax Reading: Democrats and Republicans in Congress have [compromised on a tax plan]( that includes some ideas that are good, but not good enough. — Bloomberg’s editorial board It’s Me, Hi, I’m the Intern Notice how I never assumed that the person running the IRS’s Instagram account was an intern. They could be an intern (or interns), but I have no way of knowing. Having previously managed Bloomberg Opinion’s [social]( [media]( [accounts](, I know what it feels like to be [called an intern]( by a complete stranger on the internet. Whether it was “Fire the intern that wrote this nonsense!” or “Your intern deserves a raise!” — the trope always irked me: I wasn’t an intern; I had been doing that job for years. Still, as they say, c’est la vie. Plenty of people will tell you that labels and job titles [don’t really matter]( as long as you’re being compensated fairly. And while that may be true, there’s utility to a title — it can tell you (sometimes) what a person actually does and (more often) where they fall in the corporate food chain. Consider the title “Independent Lead Director.” The word “independent” implies a certain level of objectivity. Companies appoint these people to act as a counterbalance among three entities: the board chair, the board, and the board’s stakeholders. “Independent directors should be able to judge executives’ actions and challenge them when necessary. They shouldn’t be too deferential, or influenced by their relationship with the company or its leaders,” Paul J. Davies [writes](. You can understand, then, Paul’s surprise when hearing that Goldman Sachs appointed David Viniar — a man with a lifetime association with Goldman — as its new Independent Director. “He worked there for more than three decades, including more than 13 years as chief financial officer, and he’s been a non-executive director for more than a decade since stepping down,” Paul writes. Although his 40-plus year history with the investment bank will make him an excellent sounding board for CEO David Solomon, retaining his so-called independence may prove impossible. Perhaps they should have gone with an intern instead. Bonus Goldman Reading: A lawsuit that [blames Goldman Sachs]( for work-induced stress highlights how easy it is to internalize corporate expectations. — Sarah Green Carmichael Telltale Charts A lot of homes were built in Boise, Austin and Phoenix during the pandemic housing boom. But Conor Sen [says]( new economic pressures are “pushing builders away from the big growth markets of the 2010s and into areas that haven’t been built up — or bid up — to the same extent.” The winners of that shift appear to be the Carolinas. Places like Winston-Salem, Asheville and Myrtle Beach are high on a list of metro areas that saw big increases in single-family housing permits in the first 11 months of 2023. I guess that means we’ll see an uptick in demand for those [needlepoint pillows]( that say “bless your heart.” Normally, I’m all for a rebrand. But Tesla’s new term for “slowdown” is a wee bit of a stretch, not to mention a mouthful. As Liam Denning [notes](, the automaker claims to be “between two major growth waves,” which is really just a surfer-dude way of saying it’s expecting 2024 to be yet another lackluster period. “Throughout the past year, as Tesla’s margins shrank and growth prospects dimmed, other narratives were deployed by both Musk and [the more starry-eyed analysts]( to support the valuation, centered on artificial intelligence and robotics,” Liam writes. Unless Tesla can actually deliver a cheaper EV, investors may grow [skeptical]( about when the next “wave” is coming, if it comes at all. Further Reading Free read: [US superconsumers]( are making America look like a star on the world stage. — Jonathan Levin From the Middle East to US politics, [selective empathy]( is bringing us down. — Andreas Kluth Post-Roe America’s [national shame](: 65,000 forced pregnancies. — Lisa Jarvis Vice President Kamala Harris is [Trump’s worst nightmare]( on abortion. — Nia-Malika Henderson Tiny [pacific islands]( are a major front in the US-China Cold War. — James Stavridis Viktor Orban aggravates the EU, but [dumping Hungary]( from NATO is unwise. — Marc Champion Hedge funds are playing [a dangerous game]( with Japan and China. — Shuli Ren AI’s greatest danger is probably [the humans]( who use it. — Tyler Cowen ICYMI Nikki Haley’s Super PAC [outraised]( Trump by $5 million. Alabama will conduct the first [execution by nitrogen](. Refinery29 and BuzzFeed Tasty are [up for sale](. Bud Light wants to make a [Super Bowl comeback](. Taylor Swift considers legal action against [deepfake porn](. Kickers A 99-year-old swimmer [broke]( three world records. Gypsy Rose Blanchard and [the big shift]( in true crime. Researchers [taught]( AI chatbots how to lie. Austin Butler hired [a dialect coach]( to get rid of his Elvis accent. Science says [a pinch of salt]( makes tea taste better. The reason why you’re [TATT]( (Tired All The Time). Notes: Please send salted tea and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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