A billionaire venture capitalist suggested Thursday that wealthy Americans should get more votes.

Asked for an idea that would "change the world" at a speaking engagement in San Francisco, Tom Perkins said: "The Tom Perkins system is: You don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes.

"But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How's that?"

Perkins, who admitted to CNNthat he "intended to be outrageous," is no stranger to controversy. He came under fire in January when, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, he compared left-wing disdain for the ultra-rich to Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.

"I would call attention to the parallels of Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich,'" he wrote.