Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg
Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg
Bill Gates is in favor of raising some taxes, but says some of the proposals seem to be going too far.
The government “needs to do more – health costs, pandemic recovery, climate investment, generosity for foreign aid,” the billionaire said Friday during an “Ask Me Anything” Q&A session on Reddit. So I pushed for higher taxes. I disagree with some of the proposals that seem to go too far. “
The co-founder of Microsoft Corp. mentioned taxes as an “important” point, but did not mention tax proposals during the exchange.
His comments follow a series of proposed capital taxes at state and national levels. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren this month proposed the Ultra Millionaire Tax Act, which would impose a 2% annual tax on households and trusts worth between $ 50 million and $ 1 billion. All net worth in excess of $ 1 billion would be taxed at 3%, costing the 100 richest Americans about $ 78 billion, according to a Bloomberg analysis. The bill is unlikely to go far in a tightly divided congress.
Read: Bill Gates criticizes Warren’s wealth tax plan
Gates is the third richest person in the world with a fortune of $ 138 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He previously called for raising taxes on the rich to address growing inequality, including on a blog post at the end of 2019 proposing to close loopholes and increase capital gains tax to equal the rate on labor income. He said on the Reddit forum that increased estate taxes can be an effective tool for generating income and avoiding dynastic wealth.
During the forum, he also expressed doubts about the introduction of a universal basic income, an idea that gained some support during the pandemic and was promoted by Andrew Yang during his long presidential run.
“We get richer as we innovate, but I wonder if we are rich enough to discourage skilled people from working,” said Gates. “Over time we have been more generous and we will be more generous too. The discussion about this is very interesting, but it boils down to numbers. “
Other topics covered include:
- Crypto Mining:
- “I have a lot of problems with anonymous money transfers compared to granting systems where you can dispute and reverse transactions and get taxes paid. Electricity consumption is just a problem. We do need digital money, but without that overhead. “
- Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News:
- “Some false information is more interesting than the truth, so digital channels seem to enlarge echo chambers with bad facts. I haven’t seen as much creativity on how we fix this as needed. “
- Climate denial:
- “The damage in the past was enormous. Now the oil companies have stopped funding these things, so I think climate denial is going to diminish. There are issues about how we reduce emissions, but I hope all young people agree that this is a crucial goal. “
- If nothing is done about climate change, “it gets worse over time and natural ecosystems disappear. The migration away from the unliveable areas around the equator will be enormous. We won’t be able to sustain a large population when it gets much warmer. “
- On achieving net zero emissions by 2050:
- “There is more public support for taking big steps to prevent climate disaster than ever before. It’s inspiring to see governments and businesses around the world setting ambitious goals to reduce emissions. The world’s power to invent makes me optimistic. “
Adds more comments in the seventh paragraph.