Working in tax accounting and seeing how incredibly irresponsible and often downright wasteful the wealthy can be, while seeing how little many small business owners and independent contractors (e.g. drivers for Uber) make, pushed me much further to the left on progressive taxation.
Having to go through the immigration process twice, and seeing how the system is designed to make your life as difficult as possible, along with having the immigration axe above your head at all times, has also pushed me much further to the left on the topic than I already was. I have absolutely zero respect for people who trash talk immigrants or make opposing immigration a personality trait.
Working in accounting, along with getting a specialized degree in valuation, pushed me far more to the left as well when it comes to paying employees, strengthening unions, and implementing stronger employment protection laws. Once you see the sometimes borderline impossible demands for profits that some owners have, while slashing payroll and working employees harder and harder, when the company is already swimming in cash, gets you pretty angry and the sheer greed that some people have. Didn't help that the CFO of my most recent job was the CFO of one of those food delivery companies when they were caught stealing workers' wages. Nothing wrong with making a profit, but if you have to make a profit by abusing workers, then you don't deserve to be in business.
It feels more like an antitrust issue the more and more I think about how companies treat their workers. I first thought of that when I asked HR how wages were assessed and they said "we analyze the "local market" to decide where to place wages". In a small college town with maybe half a dozen large employers, it doesn't seem a lot like a market.
