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Bill Gates also said he'd be willing to double the amount of taxes he currently pays, but you won't see that headline anywhere.

exhilaration 7y ago
Maybe not the headline but it's right in TFA.
tombert 7y ago
It is mentioned directly in the linked article. I guess it's not a "headline", but it's not exactly hidden.
- jaypeg25 7y ago
  I know it is - that's where I got the fact from - but the fact that the headline is what it is leads to a distorted view from everyone who DOESN'T read the article.
AlexandrB 7y ago
How generous. That would bring him in line with what his secretary probably pays[1]. [1] https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secretary-taxes/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secret...
- onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
  In percentage terms? You realize Bill Gates literally has a multi-million dollar tax bill every year, right? Even if you cheat taxes egregiously, and even if your effective federal tax rate is only 15% -- when you have $70Bn in wealth, your income (cheated to extremes) is still going to be at least in the hundreds of millions. 15% of that is still 10s of millions of dollars. And as others pointed out, if you're going to pick fights with billionaires, Bill Gates probably isn't the best place to start. You would be hard pressed to convince many people here he's been a net-negative to human civilization.
  - zip1234 7y ago
    20% is long term capital gains rate if you make more than $453k
- jknoepfler 7y ago
  You realize you're talking about one of the highest-impact philanthropists in modern history, right?
  - CharlesColeman 7y ago
    > You realize you're talking about one of the highest-impact philanthropists in modern history, right? Being a philanthropist shouldn't justify a low tax rate.
    - manigandham 7y ago
      He is paying taxes, and even agrees with paying more.
      - IGotThroughIt 7y ago
        That's just it; you can never placate people who want to expropriate everything (or close to everything) from others. It's just never enough. Attempts to tax people at 70% in France (even if it was marginal tax) went south very quickly. Incentive matters a lot because good work is really really hard. Funny enough Gates seemed alluded to this on some interview I watched a while back.
- manigandham 7y ago
  He's paid more in taxes than probably any other citizen of the country. And the Gates Foundation is indeed generous with how much impact it's had.
- jaypeg25 7y ago
  His secretary pays $20 billion?
  - tombert 7y ago
    I don't see why people keep making this same point; yes, Bill Gates pays a higher number of dollars in taxes, but the argument is the tax rate, and saying otherwise seems like you're being purposefully ignorant.
    - jaypeg25 7y ago
      If a man who already pays more money in taxes than I'll ever see in my lifetime is willing to DOUBLE that amount, it should be commended. If he's not willing to pay 10X that amount, I have little problem with that.
      - tombert 7y ago
        1) Bill Gates knows damn well that it wouldn't be paying 100 billion dollars in the Warren tax plan; he's not an idiot. He's trying to poison the well. 2) Sure, I'm glad Bill Gates is willing to double that amount. Fun fact, Mr Gates, you don't have to wait until a tax is implemented, if you really think that way, you can donate money straight to the government: [0] 3) Taxes, at least in my lifetime, have always been a tax rate, not a number-of-dollars paid thing. If Jeff Bezos made 20 billion dollars last year, and paid only 1 billion in taxes, that would be a 5% tax rate. Living in NY, depending on my expenses and deductions, I pay upwards of 40% of my income in taxes. Yes, in one year, Bezos would have paid more to the tax pool than I ever would have, but it seems incredibly unfair that a person who has so much would be forced to give comparatively so little, especially since wealth hoarders could also afford to give a substantially higher percentage of their income without an appreciable quality of life change. Granted, I know Bill Gates is, by wealth-hoarder standards, not too bad a guy. I don't think anyone here is arguing that he is, but come on; even if his dishonest framing of "being taxed 100 billion dollars" was true, which it isn't, it's not like his life would even change that much; he'd still be worth billions, he'd still have more money than he knows what to do with, he'd still be able to live a life of luxury on bank interest. Forgive me for not crying over his plight. [0] https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html ---- EDIT: The 20 billion Bezos thing is a contrived example. I do not know the tax rate for billionaires in NY; it was more a direct response to the "paid more in taxes than I'll ever pay" comment.

exhilaration 7y ago

Maybe not the headline but it's right in TFA.

tombert 7y ago

It is mentioned directly in the linked article. I guess it's not a "headline", but it's not exactly hidden.

jaypeg25 7y ago
I know it is - that's where I got the fact from - but the fact that the headline is what it is leads to a distorted view from everyone who DOESN'T read the article.

AlexandrB 7y ago

How generous. That would bring him in line with what his secretary probably pays[1]. [1] https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secretary-taxes/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secret...

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
In percentage terms? You realize Bill Gates literally has a multi-million dollar tax bill every year, right? Even if you cheat taxes egregiously, and even if your effective federal tax rate is only 15% -- when you have $70Bn in wealth, your income (cheated to extremes) is still going to be at least in the hundreds of millions. 15% of that is still 10s of millions of dollars. And as others pointed out, if you're going to pick fights with billionaires, Bill Gates probably isn't the best place to start. You would be hard pressed to convince many people here he's been a net-negative to human civilization.
- zip1234 7y ago
  20% is long term capital gains rate if you make more than $453k
jknoepfler 7y ago
You realize you're talking about one of the highest-impact philanthropists in modern history, right?
- CharlesColeman 7y ago
  > You realize you're talking about one of the highest-impact philanthropists in modern history, right? Being a philanthropist shouldn't justify a low tax rate.
  - manigandham 7y ago
    He is paying taxes, and even agrees with paying more.
    - IGotThroughIt 7y ago
      That's just it; you can never placate people who want to expropriate everything (or close to everything) from others. It's just never enough. Attempts to tax people at 70% in France (even if it was marginal tax) went south very quickly. Incentive matters a lot because good work is really really hard. Funny enough Gates seemed alluded to this on some interview I watched a while back.
manigandham 7y ago
He's paid more in taxes than probably any other citizen of the country. And the Gates Foundation is indeed generous with how much impact it's had.
jaypeg25 7y ago
His secretary pays $20 billion?
- tombert 7y ago
  I don't see why people keep making this same point; yes, Bill Gates pays a higher number of dollars in taxes, but the argument is the tax rate, and saying otherwise seems like you're being purposefully ignorant.
  - jaypeg25 7y ago
    If a man who already pays more money in taxes than I'll ever see in my lifetime is willing to DOUBLE that amount, it should be commended. If he's not willing to pay 10X that amount, I have little problem with that.
    - tombert 7y ago
      1) Bill Gates knows damn well that it wouldn't be paying 100 billion dollars in the Warren tax plan; he's not an idiot. He's trying to poison the well. 2) Sure, I'm glad Bill Gates is willing to double that amount. Fun fact, Mr Gates, you don't have to wait until a tax is implemented, if you really think that way, you can donate money straight to the government: [0] 3) Taxes, at least in my lifetime, have always been a tax rate, not a number-of-dollars paid thing. If Jeff Bezos made 20 billion dollars last year, and paid only 1 billion in taxes, that would be a 5% tax rate. Living in NY, depending on my expenses and deductions, I pay upwards of 40% of my income in taxes. Yes, in one year, Bezos would have paid more to the tax pool than I ever would have, but it seems incredibly unfair that a person who has so much would be forced to give comparatively so little, especially since wealth hoarders could also afford to give a substantially higher percentage of their income without an appreciable quality of life change. Granted, I know Bill Gates is, by wealth-hoarder standards, not too bad a guy. I don't think anyone here is arguing that he is, but come on; even if his dishonest framing of "being taxed 100 billion dollars" was true, which it isn't, it's not like his life would even change that much; he'd still be worth billions, he'd still have more money than he knows what to do with, he'd still be able to live a life of luxury on bank interest. Forgive me for not crying over his plight. [0] https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html ---- EDIT: The 20 billion Bezos thing is a contrived example. I do not know the tax rate for billionaires in NY; it was more a direct response to the "paid more in taxes than I'll ever pay" comment.