It seems highly unlikely that Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has a cult following in Silicon Valley. But it was striking to hear a prominent US venture capitalist use eerily familiar arguments this week to make the case for tax reform in the world’s largest economy.
“I think a very fundamental thing we should consider is [to] change all capital gains tax to be the same as all ordinary income tax,” Vinod Khosla mused in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“I do think capital gains doesn’t deserve a lower tax. In a world where we didn’t have enough investment it made sense to incentivise investment. We don’t have that problem today. I think the world is very different, and we need to tilt the seesaw towards labour and labour contributions to the economy.”
Khosla leans progressive within an increasingly right-of-centre segment of the US economy. His firm, Khosla Ventures, was one of OpenAI’s first outside investors, and his comments were made specifically in relation to the technology. They reflect the dominant Silicon Valley view that AI will cause widespread job losses and that most of its economic gains will accrue to those who own it.
