PALO ALTO, CA—Warning that progressive Democrats’ plans to fund government projects through tax increases on billionaires would have significant negative consequences, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly argued Monday that high taxes on the wealthy could stifle innovation in human suffering. “If there’s anything that the rise of Silicon Valley has taught us, it’s that in order to make trailblazing breakthroughs in cruelty and technological oppression, we need to empower the private sector,” said Zuckerberg, adding that without the promise of being able to fund and ultimately make money off of his inventions, he would have never worked to erode civil liberties, invade people’s privacy on a grand scale, and manipulate the democratic process by creating Facebook. “If we want the kind of brutal, intrusive solutions that the market can provide, we can’t punish those who have risen to the top based on their genius at perpetuating human suffering. Take the medical industry for example—sure, government agencies and public-sector grants can help researchers develop lifesaving medicines, but only visionaries driven by the promise of unimaginable wealth can come up with ingenious ways to drive people into cycles of addiction or massive medical debt. If we stifle the creative potential of our country’s most successful business people, think of all the devastation and daily compromises on people’s lives that we may never discover.” Zuckerberg did concede that raising taxes on the richest Americans would help relieve the immense pressure to find innovative ways to hide their wealth from the government.

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