Elon Musk has a gift for prompting questions about how we should order our world. His latest contribution to the debate is a threat to shift incorporation of his electric-car maker, Tesla, from Delaware to freedom-loving Texas, after a Delaware judge annulled his $55.8bn pay deal — the largest in American corporate history, or possibly all history. 

The questions this time: how rich does anyone need to be? Should countries raise taxes on billionaires? I reckon so. It would improve our societies and reduce ordinary people’s taxes. Exactly how to do it differs by jurisdiction, but the starting point is to establish the principle of taxing billionaires.

Any discussion requires dismissing silly arguments. Those who support these taxes often argue that billionaires are bad people. Some of them probably are, while others aren’t. It’s irrelevant. We don’t tax character. We should likewise ignore opponents of these taxes who cry “politics of envy”. The psychology behind the proposals is irrelevant, as Ingrid Robeyns argues in her new book Limitarianism. Feel free to diagnose me as jealous of billionaires. That doesn’t change the question: would taxing them benefit society?