To me, that sounds like the risk you should have to take if you’re accepting shares as payment and holding onto them. The inital tax makes sense because it is effectively an income, then that value used as a benchmark for legitimate capital gains makes sense too. If it goes down then that’s just a loss due to the shares decreasing in value… You could always just sell them off when they vest…
Selling them off when they vest is subject to taxation as income at the point years after they’re awarded, down or up. You take the risk (not that you have a choice in the tech sector) and you get fucked both ways for it
To me, that sounds like the risk you should have to take if you’re accepting shares as payment and holding onto them. The inital tax makes sense because it is effectively an income, then that value used as a benchmark for legitimate capital gains makes sense too. If it goes down then that’s just a loss due to the shares decreasing in value… You could always just sell them off when they vest…
Selling them off when they vest is subject to taxation as income at the point years after they’re awarded, down or up. You take the risk (not that you have a choice in the tech sector) and you get fucked both ways for it