That’s the interesting thing. Some people want to be lifetime wage slaves: they will work till they die at a low earnings level. Others would like to make five times as much with five times as much work. Proportionality is what they value.
The problem, apparently, is that you want to force the latter into the former lifestyle. To that, I say no. In fact, you’re not going to get that world.
> The problem, apparently, is that you want to force the latter into the former lifestyle.
No I don't. If I was in charge then for step one I wouldn't change the amount of money those people make at all, I'd try to claw back any productivity gains from the last few decades that aren't going to workers and see how much UBI that can turn into. If I did want to tax someone with 5x income more, it wouldn't be that much more.
>I'd try to claw back any productivity gains from the last few decades
If productivity gains come from capital, not from labor, then trying to take that from rewarding capital will also hurt labor. Over the past few decades a significant amount of productivity gains are from capital investment. Your average worker isn't simply turning out 2x or 3x the goods with the same effort. They have been given a productivity multiplier tool paid for by investment before they set foot on the job.
When it often takes significant tooling and tech investment from an employer to increase productivity, if that stops, we're back to much earlier productivity and level of goods.
Next, over the past few decades, there has been (in the US, likely others) legislation benefiting workers that has a cost to employers, which has also taken up some wage growth, by giving workers other benefits. BLS tracks such things under terms like total cost of employment and total remuneration. If you look at these over historical periods, you can see more places that workers are better off today than in decades past, without it showing up in wages.
There are reasonable causes not all productivity gains are immediately given as wages - not all gains come from workers.
I don't think all that much capital is going to stop investing in companies even if taxes increase, especially if increases are over many areas.
Also, any business that already exists under this setup has the necessary equipment, and any new business should be budgeting for the necessary equipment. Not much should be stuck in a place where they have lots of inefficient employees and can't afford to upgrade and can't secure a loan.
The problem, apparently, is that you want to force the latter into the former lifestyle. To that, I say no. In fact, you’re not going to get that world.