Bill Gates thinks the super-wealthy should pay more tax – and plenty of rich people agree

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 1011 points – Bill Gates thinks the super-wealthy should pay more tax – and plenty of rich people agree
businessinsider.com

Bill Gates wants ultra-wealthy individuals to pay more tax — and now a growing chorus of billionaires agree.

In his annual "Ask Me Anything" forum on Reddit last year, the Microsoft cofounder said he was "surprised" that taxes for the rich haven't been increased more.

Gates doubled down on his calls to tax the rich in a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. He said the wealthiest nations should donate more money to developing countries to help redress inequality.

"Those who have the most — whether it's countries, companies, or individuals — should be pushed to be more generous," he said.

It seems others agree, as more than 250 ultra-wealthy people signed an open letter calling for global leaders to impose a wealth tax.

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Okay then like do it, if you want to pay more money to the government then just fucking give it to them instead of fucking around with this dumb letter saying, "oh we promise we care about the peasan.... I mean poors.... I mean the financially disadvantaged"

I can't actually picture how easily someone would just send a larger check to the IRS - it'd probably be kicked back to you as a tax refund if you filled your taxes correctly.

Much easier would be to found your own charity to get similar effects done - which, surprise, Gates already does. And I'm sure he doesn't just mean "I should be paying more taxes", he means "Everyone as wealthy as me", even if said other people don't agree with him.

Don't worry, the US Treasury has directions:

https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html

Well, I learned something new!

That said, I could certainly worry about the way sudden money like that would be spent. A lot of better government programs are supported by sustained funding, rather than the sudden effect of a billionaire waking up feeling charitable enough to send out a lump sum.

This is such a BS reply I see all the time. He does not want to give up his relative position. He wants folks at his position to pay their share. So he wants to retain a level playing field for competion for wealth but wealth should not come out of an ability to not pay taxes if you have the power to avoid it.

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If billionaires really wanted higher taxes, they'd have higher taxes.

What they want is no taxes and to look like their hands are tied "I can't possibly pay taxes they won't take my money! It's not my fault it's the government. Damn them!"

While they spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to get their taxes reduced even further and passed on to the working class.

There are some rich people who recognize that higher taxes are actually good for them in the long-term by increasing growth and decreasing income inequality (which in the long-term, leads to rolling heads). But it's a Prisoner's Dilemma style situation - if they, as individuals, donate additional wealth to the government, nothing happens except that their own wealth makes a tiny little drip in the ocean, and their competitors then benefit at no cost to themselves. But if the government imposes a uniform levy on them all, then the cost and the benefits are evenly applied, instead of one 'suffering' (and I use the term very loosely) and the others slightly benefiting.

My point here isn't to lionize them, because ultimately most of them are voicing this opinion out of personal interest, not morality. But it is probably a sincerely held personal interest, rather than pantomime.

Quoted by https://kbin.social/m/news@lemmy.world/t/780024/-/comment/4717309, probably should search to find the actual source

Have you considered how that would be done? How does one give extra money to the government? Should he just bank transfer Biden a few billion?

If only the US Treasury had some sort of process to gift money to the US government, since 1843, that can be easily googled in like three words.

Do they?

Well there you go. What other wonders will I discover about your retarded country next?

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