"It all began with a perk. Part of the JDS benefits package was an employee stock purchase plan, which let workers buy company shares at a huge discount. As JDS's stock surged in 2000, workers were able to get shares worth more than $300 for roughly $2 apiece through small deductions from their paycheques. Plant workers with modest incomes suddenly had visions of expensive cottages and early retirement. But the celebration was short-lived. The stock peaked in March of 2000, then tumbled almost as fast as it rose. By the end of the year, it had dropped by 68 per cent.
The plunging share price was a disappointment, but the real disaster came that winter, when the tax forms arrived. Because the workers got stock at a discount, they were taxed on the difference between what they paid and the stock's value on the date it was issued -- $305. Joe Wood worked as an engineer at JDS for $40,000 a year, and he suddenly had a tax bill for $138,000. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late to sell -- the shares had fallen by 80 per cent and were worth a fraction of the taxes he owed. To make matters worse, JDS closed its Victoria plant in the summer of 2001, putting Wood and hundreds of others out of work, with no way to pay their tax bills."
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20050314_101963_101963
I wonder how you'd feel about your 'brilliant' idea if you were in Mr. Wood's case? Way to help out the working man.