But no employer will pay 80k to an employee who is paying zero in taxes and taking home 80. because the employer knows the employee will do the same work for 40. The employer will set the wage according to the take home amount -- the post tax amount.
CEOs may be greedy, but they ain't stupid.
Bill Dollars may be an exception to that.
Completely disagree with you. Company will have to pay whatever amount gets the employee the same "buying power". You are oversimplifying in order to attempt to validate your point. If the employee tax rate is zero, then obviously there must be other taxes the government imposes in order to obtain revenue. And the bottom line is that the final user - the consumer of products and services - will pay those taxes in the form of higher prices or else a "consumption" tax. Therefore the employee still needs the tax-free pay in order to pay the missing tax which would be imposed in other forms. It's the "buying power" that determines what the employee requires, not necessarily just the take home amount.