Not to criticize but I think you missed his point. The way I read it the point of the article is this...
We can't force the rich to pay more because they always find a way out of it. We know this because there were days when upper tax rates were 90% but tax revenue was roughly the same because the rich can lobby for loop holes and pay people to exploit those loop holes. The rich will find a way to keep from paying too much in taxes even if they have to buy some backwards little country and form their own nation.
So the only way to get rich people's money is to find something we can give them which makes them feel like they're spending their money for something rather than giving it away.
So the stupid ideas are in the context of "how can we make the rich give us their money?"
We can't force the rich to pay more because they always find a way out of it. We know this because there were days when upper tax rates were 90% but tax revenue was roughly the same because the rich can lobby for loop holes and pay people to exploit those loop holes. The rich will find a way to keep from paying too much in taxes even if they have to buy some backwards little country and form their own nation.
So the only way to get rich people's money is to find something we can give them which makes them feel like they're spending their money for something rather than giving it away.
So the stupid ideas are in the context of "how can we make the rich give us their money?"