Original post from u/Kvolti on reddit
More informations and pictures here:
https://www.greenpeace.org/italy/storia/27709/abbiamo-contestato-jeff-bezos-a-venezia/
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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I think they don't know how taxes work. Taxes are paid on income and realized capital gains. He's not renting venice from his Amazon stock...
The message is that billionaires can pay 'more' taxes, not that they have to pay on unrealized gains.
I'm not exactly sure what you think the specific ask is...
It's very general, somehow he has the funds to have a maddeningly extravagant wedding, so he can afford to have a tax burden...
It's vague and doesn't invite debate over the nature and nuance of his wealth, only that he can somehow pull off a celebration no reasonable person could dream of, including closing off a whole crap ton of Venice to general public use for a whole week. That's a whole lot of spend that he can casually brush off indicating that in real terms he's got unreasonable levels of wealth.
It's not getting down in the details about unrealized gains and leveraging said gains through loopholes and the discussion about what taxable burden might should be associated with unrealized gains of that magnitude, it's showing a clear example of "he has extravagant financial power, without as high relatively of a financial burden".
He's renting it from the interest and profits he gets from those stocks. I'm paying tax on the gains I get from my stocks and so should he.
Interest and profits from the stocks? Can you elaborats?
so brave...
There is bo reason that he can't be getting taxed on his Amazon stock. If he has enough money to remt out a city, he will have no issues paying 12 figures on his taxes
From https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/75832/everyone-hates-elon-and-greenpeace-unfold-giant-banner-on-piazza-san-marco-ahead-of-bezos-wedding/
"A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon said: “As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married. Just weeks ago he spent millions on an 11 minute space trip. If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it’s this.”
Clara Thompson, Greenpeace campaigner, said: “While Venice is sinking under the weight of the climate crisis, billionaires are partying like there is no tomorrow on their mega yachts. This isn’t just about one person — it’s about changing the rules so no billionaire can dodge responsibility, anywhere. The real issue is a broken system that lets billionaires skip out on their fair share of taxes while everyone else is left to foot the bill. That’s why we need fair, inclusive tax rules, and they must be written at the UN.”
A tax on the super-rich would help to fund the necessary transition to a green and just future, fund affordable housing, cheaper public transport or home insulation. Greenpeace’s ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was anchored at the port of Venice last week-end to promote this transition and expose the damage the fossil fuel industry causes to the people and the planet."
Billionaires go so far as to ask donations to charities from their service customers so they can pay less taxes. They are effectively making themselves richer, common folk poorer and calling it altruism because some charities get money from average income people rather than billionaires.
This is a common misconception. If a person or corporation takes money for charity, like rounding up for bill at point of sale, that entity doesn't get to write that off taxes. They can claim publicity for raising money for charity, but they didn't get any direct financial windfall. They would only get something if they were to say, match the donation contribution.
Here is the kicker though; Often the entity in question will OWN the charity they are donating to.
Except if they found a loophole such that money you donate first goes to their business account and they make it legally seem like it is a donation made from their business account in which case they might still get a tax refund. Note that this is a speculation on my part and I am wondering if there are indeed loopholes that enable this or laws are clear enough to prevent this in any form and shape.
It might also work the same way if you make a donation through their own charities. How it would work is they donate some of their profit to their own charities and get the tax refund but they don't use that money for charitable acts (as defined by common sense). They also get customer based donations to their charities which instead they use for what one would consider charitable acts, so the charity looks active instead of hoarding money. And then they use the other money they have donated themselves and gotten a tax refund for as whatever agenda pushing reasons as they see fit ( including political donations, investments in other companies ) since the definition of charitable act is quite loosely regulated.
This is what, me a regular guy, comes up with thinking about it for five minutes. An army of lawyers will make sure to find a way to turn your donations into tax reducing investments for the company.
Why are you trying to ingratiate yourself to billionaires that would squash you under their heel in an instant like an ant and not bat a fucking eye?
I literally don't care what he's doing as long as he doesn't do illegal tax evasion. He's not a bad person if he adhers to the laws. He had a big wedding, so what? Why do you even care? If think this is unfair go vote...
Nah man, billionaires shouldn't exist. It is literally impossible to amass that type of wealth without exploiting (stealing surplus value from) people working for you. Aside from that, it is more money than a person could ever spend and takes huge amounts of money out of the economy, slowing the velocity of money.
You should care, because it actively harms the economy to have that kind of wealth hoarding.
And I do vote, but that doesn't help in a broken system built by people like this to enable and encourage exploitation. Do you really think that the people in power actually wish to hold people like this accountable? Of course they fuckin don't, they're the same goddamn people.
I work in tax and i can tell you the tax systems are broken once you pass a certain level of wealth most of us will never achieve in our lifetimes. This is by design.
You know that income tax and capital gains tax are not the only kinds of tax, right?
There is no capital gains tax. There is tax on realized capital gains, which is income. Can you elaborate what you mean? I might be wrong.
You are wrong in terminology. Capital gains tax is not the same as income tax. The “realized“ term you mentioned is already redundant with the “gains”. If it’s unrealized there is no gain.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax
However, it’s also possible to tax capital itself. This is normally referred to as a wealth tax
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_tax
You seem to be under the impression that these existing categories are the only kinds of tax that can exist. In reality, it’s entirely possible to structure taxes in any way that people can devise.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_taxes
It's how they should work. Rich people can pay people to set up constructions to avoid paying taxes.