[joelhoffman]

It seems very unlikely to actually raise much directly. As the article quotes someone saying,

> You’d certainly see some people under that system change their behavior to avoid the higher rate, which could significantly impact how much revenue it generates

Which is the real point. It's intended to do something to rein in out of control executive compensation. Particularly stock compensation which gives execs an incentive to do short term price manipulation.

(Edit: that's what it did the last time the top rate was this high before Reagan cut it. CEO pay was more like 30x ordinary workers, not 300x)

[stmfreak]

So some CEOs defer cashing out for one year and then it’s back to regular business as they cash out last year’s comp at capital gains rates? It’s basically a no-op.

This sort of talk is just pure envy driven fantasy.

[joelhoffman]

Maybe so, but I do believe if you're paid in stock (not options) you pay taxes immediately, then capital gains is applied to any difference in value when it's sold. I could be wrong, I have no special expertise here.