the salary was lowered to distribute it to his employees

Contrary to what many critics warned at the time, faced with a decision deemed risky, the payment processor is flourishing and has even tripled its workforce, while the staff turnover rate has been cut in half.

Although at the beginning Price had to adapt his lifestyle, and even sell a second home he owned and use his savings, now he assures that he does not need so much money to live and has checked. the benefits it brought to his business, such as having very loyal employees.

Remember that at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company went through a difficult period losing 55% of its turnover. However, his team voluntarily accepted a temporary pay cut, allowing them to move on. As the situation improved, they were compensated.

Given the obvious benefits his policy has brought to the company and the lives of workers, Price urges other companies to do the same, while regretting that no large company has taken such a step. “My employees did a lot more for me than I could do for them,” he concluded, recalling the Tesla Model S car his employees gave him as a gesture of affection.

Dan Price is fed up with billionaires doing charitable work and donating to the underprivileged.

It bothers him because he thinks it’s a good excuse not to do what they “really should” be doing: paying more taxes and better wages.

He became known internationally when in 2015 he announced that he had decided to lower his salary by one million US dollars and increase the salaries of all his employees.

This is how he established a minimum wage of US $ 70,000 per year for the 120 employees of his company.

And he did it because he considered it to be a “moral imperative” reduce the pay gap between business leaders and their employees.

Six years later, Price thinks it was worth it.

He is now embarking on the passage of a wealth tax for the first time in American history.

His goal is to implement the measure in Washington state, although he also promotes the idea nationally.

“One of the main criticisms I hear from people is that billionaires don’t need to pay more taxes because they donate,” Price said.

And like every time they donate, they get great media coverage, he adds, it helps build a public image that favors them.

“In reality, the amount they donate is a fraction of what they would pay if their tax rates were aligned with those of the working class, ”Price explains.

“Billionaires pay the tax rate lower of any income group nationwide.

For example, in Washington State, “the richest pay 3% of their income in taxes, while the poor pay 18%,” said the businessman.

While he acknowledges that billionaires do charitable work for a variety of reasons, he assures that the donations ultimately benefit them, as it allows them to avoid contributing much more to solving systemic problems.

“Billionaires use philanthropy scam to prevent systemic change from happening, ”argues Price.

“That’s why I say multi-million dollar philanthropy is a public relations scam.”

Like him, there are other business and investor groups on Wall Street who are pushing for higher taxes for America’s richest.

The best known is the organization “Millonarios Patriotas”, which offers tax wealth from $ 1 billion.

“We are talking about the richest, a few hundred people,” explained the group’s president, Morris Pearl.

Pearl is a former director of BlackRock (one of the largest investment firms in the world) who now lives off the profitability of his investments after a successful career on Wall Street.

During the pandemic, his own fortune increased further thanks to the fact that the stock markets are at record highs.