4 ms·
It's interesting to read this nuanced and economically informed take with his more recent post saying we should raise taxes on capital. See https://www.gatesno
by ikeboy 6y ago
It's interesting to read this nuanced and economically informed take with his more recent post saying we should raise taxes on capital.
See https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2019 https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2...
Reading them side by side, it really seems like his more recent opinion just wasn't thought out, which is surprising given that he clearly thought about the topic 5 years earlier. My guess is he decided to support what he felt was going to be supported by mainstream Democrats anyway, instead of the economically correct views he clearly understood in 2014.
- throwawaw 6y agoWhat differences did you see? They seem essentially similar. The exception being: > We should shift more of the tax burden onto capital, including by raising the capital gains tax, probably to the same level as taxes on labor. (2019) vs > I agree that taxation should shift away from taxing labor. It doesn’t make any sense that labor in the United States is taxed so heavily relative to capital. > But rather than move to a progressive tax on capital, as Piketty would like, I think we’d be best off with a progressive tax on consumption. (2014) He does seem to have reconsidered the utility of a yacht sales tax.
- ikeboy 6y agoYes, the difference is he switched from being against higher capital taxes to in favor.