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Comment by srackey | Hacker News Reader

A salary cap doesn’t change the market rate! It just obfuscates it.

Salaries for public companies locked at 10M/yr? Ok, now firms have to compete on amenities. (Your current firm gives you a free car? Ours gives a jet, a personal Michelin star cook, and complimentary beverages)

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Company benefits are also a form of salary. If your company gifts you a free car, they have to tax it as such.

You'd think so, right? Look up why corporations started providing insurance to their employees. Look into why your compensation is not just a salary, but salary, bonuses, stock (options or RSU's), etc.

AFAIK health insurance is special-cased by law. I had to pay (a trivial amount of) tax on imputed income from IBM's life insurance. The IRS is wise to a lot of perks like company cars.

As others have mentioned, health insurance is special and may or may not be taxed. Bonuses and stock however are taxable.

> Company benefits are also a form of salary. If your company gifts you a free car, they have to tax it as such.

The company doesn't gift them a car. The company buys a car held in the name of the company and lets the person use it.

If used for personal purposes, that car at your disposal would still be a taxable benefit.

It isn't usually classified as a gift, it's company property that you use exclusively. So on the books it's a depreciating asset for the company.

Caps work. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in massively expensive fields like sports.

Salary caps are exactly how we got health insurance tied to your employment in the US (during WWII)

Salary caps in sports are literally just to enforce owner cartels and limit the ‘talents’ negotiating power.

Sports teams don't typically pay players in equity.

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