[nickpp]

Changing the rules after the fact may work on current-Elon (what can he do?!) but will definitely discourage future-Elons. And the society will benefit much more from those future Elons than from fleecing the current one to appease non-productive "equality seekers".

[dane-pgp]

How many potential future Elons would give up on their efforts to "benefit society" if, instead of being able to amass a net worth of $270 billion, they could only reach, say, $135 billion because of a wealth tax? It seems like you're saying there would be 50% as many future Elons if an Elon could only earn half as much, but maybe you have some other calculation in mind.

Anyway, plenty of other people manage to be motivated enough to benefit society without ever earning a single billion (and some people manage to earn or inherit billions without having a net positive contribution to society whatsoever).