The wealthy these days have no honour.

Many public feasts were completely or significantly sponsored by the “president” of the moment. Obviously, each one wanted to prove they were the best ever, so they spent lavishly from their own pockets. So much so that a well known election campaign argument was how rich the potential winner was, such that they could sponsor everything.

As someone who has worked in donor services, this sounds like a terrible idea. This is how we get little Johnny Turntables Jr to be in charge of all picnic tables built across the country.

Also goes hand in hand with that whole no taxation without representation thing. For examples, you can see nearly all oil rich countries where the basic citizen has to pay little or no taxes, and therefore have little say in how they are governed.

Modern politics have shown to be pay-to-win anyway so it's nice to know some things haven't changed since antiquity.

We just democratize this

I like the idea of rich people getting a plaque with a letter telling them they will be taxed at 98%

No, they just lack fear. The Athenian ruling class understood that they could be killed if they took things too far. This and that the opinions of Athenian citizens were genuinely important to their political power. Their payment of these taxes is like PR philanthropy we see today.

Politics and business haven't ever really changed in any meaningful way, besides mixing together at random

Fine as a compromise but personally I'd rather abolish such wealth than celebrate it.

I mean, depending on how high the taxes are, this would kind of accomplish that goal...

Exactly. Wealthy Romans didn't just pay taxes. Those are the citizens that had incredible political power, and probably legal impunity.

Yes they paid some tax but had an ability to harvest wealth from the underclass.

"I make so much money i just throw it at the government so the poors can have running water" is actually such a flex ngl.

Unfortunately im so poor i have to pay to bomb brown people against my will 😔

Then the 31st richest will just give away some of his money to stay below the threshold and....

Actually, nevermind. Nothing wrong with this plan, I say bring it on.

You're thinking Rome, not Greece. And it wasn't the consuls who did this, it was the Aedile, one of the lower rings on the political ladder. This was how they gained favor to rise up the ranks.

It was a demonstration of capacity to charity which signalled superior wealth accumulation capacity. Same thing as showing off your house or boat, or company stock price or collection of vintage ball gags, or whatever weird shit rich people are into. I'm guessing the acquisition of difficult to acquire things was a smaller field to fight on than it is today.

If memory serves this is λειτουργία (pardon if I get the Greek wrong; I’ve only ever studied Koine and I’m typing on a phone), which is the root of the concept of “liturgy.” Basically “liturgy” (in a religious ceremonial sense) harkens back to the feasts and festivals that wealthy Grecians were obligated to provide for the benefit of the populace.

nobody should be able to put their name on buildings they didn't build themselves.

Well this is actually Greece rather than Rome, but the point still stands

The idea of workers funding the state is that workers own the state, and everything that comes along with it including the ability to write and enact laws as well as the monopoly on violence. Workers may then own education, the healthcare system, the infrastructure, research institutions, resource extraction and various industries. These conditions are prerequisites for a democracy. (Preconditions, not the realization of.)

This is, or has been, normal in most countries including Europe and the United States. However, in the past couple of decades, the worker-owned state has been dismantled and a monopolistic oligarchy has formed, often working closely together with the bureaucracy of the state.

So essentially the model of parliamentary democracy with taxes on labor has failed, as it allowed other entities to grow stronger than the worker-owned institutions.

The fix isn't to tax the rich. It is to disallow power to consolidate into opaque institutions. This isn't something we should regulate, it's something we should quench.

A plague, you say?

The rich Athenians wanting to get out of paying could call out a richer person to pay if the richer man wanted to get out of it then they would exchange estates and now the richer man would pay.

Porque no los dos?

I totally wouldn't mind it if none of use payed taxes, but the rich did and as a token of gratitude, they got statues made in their honor and they'd be talked about and known in society - and in history.

Taxes should be an honor! You're literary keeping society prosperous and allowing everyone to thrive and be their best selves! Instead, these fuckers look for loopholes on how they can pay as little as possible. No wonder everyone hates them, they want us to hate them.

You are right. In Athens, it was only required to be rich and, in case of fraudulent use of the city’s funds, the funds would be recouped from the personal patrimony. No direct use. Thanks! I got mixed up

Naught101, send op's widow a condolence ham

Like, build with their own two hands or were instrumental in having built?

I have four things named after me. One is my first drummer/guitar player's oldest son, one is a major public building I arranged a third of the financing for and got the other two thirds forgiven, one is the street that building is on, and the last one is a style of playing music.

Edit: Now that I think about it I didn't attach my name to any of those (except the music one kind of, my buddy Marc did that and I thought it was so funny I ran with it), other people did. Slightly different sitiations. (it took a reread of your comment to catch it was about people putting they own names on buildings)

I know jack shit about this stuff so it's so neat learning it from y'all

This is how we get little Johnny Turntables Jr to be in charge

Tax assumes still having a monetary/economic system with ownership and therefore personal wealth accumulation.

"In honor of Richie Rich, who gave us back some of the wealth his family has stolen for generations."