Overview
- In late July, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke replied “Good system” to a social‑media proposal that would give zero votes to people who pay no income tax and up to five votes to very high taxpayers.
- The proposal also followed Lütke’s comment that retirees with locked‑in pensions should be treated as “dependents” and lose the right to vote.
- The endorsement prompted rapid online backlash and media coverage focused on fairness, with critics saying the idea would disenfranchise retirees, students, caregivers and low‑income workers.
- Journalists and legal experts note there is no clear legal or constitutional path to implement such a tax‑tiered voting system, so reporting treats the idea as a provocative statement rather than an imminent policy change.
- Coverage placed the proposal in historical context by linking it to 19th‑century census or property suffrage and pointed out the perceived hypocrisy of Lütke’s stance given his 2022 founder‑share structure that guarantees him outsized voting control at Shopify.