Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke Endorses Tax-Tiered Voting System
Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke sparked a fierce debate by endorsing a tax-tiered voting system on social media, suggesting that those paying no income tax should lose their voting rights. This proposal, which would grant multiple votes to high earners while disenfranchising retirees and low-wage workers, harkens back to discredited 19th-century suffrage models. Critics highlight the irony of Lütke advocating for reduced public representation while securing outsized control within his own company through a dual-class share structure.
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.
- masfuerte
Money is power. That is the problem with extreme wealth. It provides unaccountable power outside the democratic process. It is not surprising that an already powerful man wants even more power, but I do not understand why anyone else would go along with this.
- robinhood
Fascinating to see how many tech people, as soon as they get rich, turn to extreme. Name them all - they mostly all are very active on X, and each new tweet pushes the limits of what was previously deemed unacceptable. I'm rich, so my opinion must be more important, right?
- andsoitis
> one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax
It could be an interesting thought experiment to consider the second and third order consequences, even if, from first principles this is a non-starter in a democratic society.
First off all, what percent of people do not pay any taxes on income? What portion of them are poor vs. hedge fund managers or other super wealthy people who have structured their income in a way as to pay zero or near-zero income taxes? Would the latter be disincentivized from continuing those regimes?
Regardless, if you work at Shopify, you should consider quitting. You do not have to work for a crazy person like that.
- kennywinker
Do you become a monster when you get ultra rich, or do you need to be a monster to get ultra rich?
- taybin
The thing about this that's so distasteful is that it removes the basis of enfranchisement from being the inherent worth of a human life and moves it more to "what have you done for me lately". It's pretty gross.
- amanaplanacanal
Oh boy! Can I play too? My system, which I call an expansion of antitrust, requires all people to keep their net worth under one billion dollars. Anyone approaching that number must give away assets to stay under. If you go over that, you must be broken up, by, say, beheading, or being drawn and quartered.
I'm not married to that number, if people think it should be half a billion, or 100 million, or whatever, I'll go along with it.
- jchallis
Lutke is a German who has lived in Canada for decades. Why comment on American tax policy ? Seems out of his lane .
- tpoacher
Shouldn't it be the reverse? The vote of people who earn less (and are therefore more disadvantaged in society and rely on fair laws the most) should count more.
Tax and "money paid to the system" is a red herring only an entitled super rich person would think is relevant.
- pavel_lishin
> A reply from “Eric Thor,” who claimed to be a retired banking executive as well as “armchair economist and policy wonk,” proposed a sliding scale: zero votes for anyone who pays no income tax, one vote for those earning $1–100K, two votes for $100–200K, scaling up in that pattern to a hard cap of five votes for anyone earning $500K or more.
hell yeah, dude, I LOVE that I can lose my health insurance if my manager's manager decides he doesn't like the cut of my jib. Why shouldn't I lose my right to vote, too?
- consumer451
The eventual flagging of this post makes me so sad for our civilization, of which this website is a HUGE part.
I believe there was a very interesting conversation happening here.