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Giving Pledge after 15 years: Only 9 billionaires gave away half their wealth

38 points by alexcos 1y ago

voxleone 1y ago
What a beautiful world it could be, if all 3,028* of them did the same. *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of...
- bombcar 1y ago
  The combined $16.1 trillion could run the US government for almost three years!
  - snypher 1y ago
    Am I right in thinking how much better my life could be for not having to pay taxes for 3 years?
    - jaian 1y ago
      What makes you think the government would give up on collecting taxes from you? Precisely the problem with systems like the government is that their hunger never ends.
- j-bos 1y ago
  3,028 known billionaires* There's no legal or often practical requirement to publicly disclose the 9-figure status.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
Color me totally shocked. Not really. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) with $10B in assets isn't really a benign "community foundation", but a way for billionaires to promise wealth/asset giveaways later and get tax breaks now.[0] 0. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205205488 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205... Every billionaire is a policy failure and likely a deeply greedy, malevolent, and out-of-touch (and bordering on crazy) individual with far too much power and influence over other people and the fate of the species and planet Earth.
- marbro 1y ago
  [dead]
- Fade_Dance 1y ago
  According to the audit you linked, the foundation had 1.5b in revenue and made 1.3b in contributions, with management under 1%. This looks like a well run, standard charitable organization. Of course charitable giving has tax breaks. As a society we decided to align our taxation system to incentivize charitable giving. Tax breaks are not given for a promise, they are given for a hard transfer of assets to a charity. If one makes 100 million and gives away 100 million to charity, they net out to a zero tax bill. That doesn't magically enrich the donor by way of some conspiracy which you seem to be insinuating - the donor is still out 100 million plus the opportunity cost of the compounding (say, 5-10 million per year, growing over time via compounding), which the tax breaks don't come close to competing with on a net financial basis. I don't disagree with your view on wealth accumulation in the least, but the vilification of charities giving, literally over a billion to charity over a year in this case, and then hand-waving "the tax breaks make them net beneficial financially for the donors and just another evil for society" I have never understood.
the_real_cher 1y ago
If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! America has a massive overspending problem which is inflating the currency which is hurting the middle class more than than anything billionaires could do. America is almost 40 trillion dollars in debt and spends almost 7 trillion a year and tax revenue is only 5 trillion per year. (rough numbers) Currency is devaluing at a rate of 'reported' 3% per year but everyone on the ground knows it's more than that. This is not a party specific problem this is both Democrats and Republicans responsible for this. So sure you could tax the rich more and they could give away their wealth but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to government spending.
- LoganDark 1y ago
  The thing is the government doesn't need that money as much as the people do. The government can just manufacture as much money as it needs to do whatever it wants. So if you're a billionaire and you decide to give all your money to the government thinking that'll do any good, that's a huge skill issue. You could've done a lot more good with that money than to just throw it in the money hole Onion-style.
  - the_real_cher 1y ago
    The government manufacturing money inflates existing money which is essentially a tax on people who rely on currency more than assets which is the poor and middle class. I completely agree with you about billionaires being able to do more good with their money than the government.
    - saulpw 1y ago
      Being able to? Perhaps. Actually doing more good with their money? I have yet to see it writ large. (10 out of thousands is a pathetic proportion to use as evidence for this.)
      - the_real_cher 1y ago
aaron695 1y ago
[flagged]
armchairhacker 1y ago
How would you give away billions to benefit society? Know any research papers/articles/etc. that explore this?
- kratom_sandwich 1y ago
  German heiress Marlene Engelhorn [1] faced the same question when trying to give away her comparably small inheritance of 25 million euros. She resolved to assembling a committee of volunteers who decided how to distribute the money. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Engelhorn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Engelhorn
guenthert 1y ago
Why not link to the actual report? https://ips-dc.org/report-giving-pledge-at-15/ https://ips-dc.org/report-giving-pledge-at-15/
wvbdmp 1y ago
That is 9 out of 256 who took the pledge.

38 points by alexcos 1y ago

What a beautiful world it could be, if all 3,028* of them did the same. *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of...

bombcar 1y ago
The combined $16.1 trillion could run the US government for almost three years!
- snypher 1y ago
  Am I right in thinking how much better my life could be for not having to pay taxes for 3 years?
  - jaian 1y ago
    What makes you think the government would give up on collecting taxes from you? Precisely the problem with systems like the government is that their hunger never ends.
j-bos 1y ago
3,028 known billionaires* There's no legal or often practical requirement to publicly disclose the 9-figure status.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

Color me totally shocked. Not really. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) with $10B in assets isn't really a benign "community foundation", but a way for billionaires to promise wealth/asset giveaways later and get tax breaks now.[0] 0. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205205488 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205... Every billionaire is a policy failure and likely a deeply greedy, malevolent, and out-of-touch (and bordering on crazy) individual with far too much power and influence over other people and the fate of the species and planet Earth.

marbro 1y ago
[dead]
Fade_Dance 1y ago
According to the audit you linked, the foundation had 1.5b in revenue and made 1.3b in contributions, with management under 1%. This looks like a well run, standard charitable organization. Of course charitable giving has tax breaks. As a society we decided to align our taxation system to incentivize charitable giving. Tax breaks are not given for a promise, they are given for a hard transfer of assets to a charity. If one makes 100 million and gives away 100 million to charity, they net out to a zero tax bill. That doesn't magically enrich the donor by way of some conspiracy which you seem to be insinuating - the donor is still out 100 million plus the opportunity cost of the compounding (say, 5-10 million per year, growing over time via compounding), which the tax breaks don't come close to competing with on a net financial basis. I don't disagree with your view on wealth accumulation in the least, but the vilification of charities giving, literally over a billion to charity over a year in this case, and then hand-waving "the tax breaks make them net beneficial financially for the donors and just another evil for society" I have never understood.

the_real_cher 1y ago

If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! America has a massive overspending problem which is inflating the currency which is hurting the middle class more than than anything billionaires could do. America is almost 40 trillion dollars in debt and spends almost 7 trillion a year and tax revenue is only 5 trillion per year. (rough numbers) Currency is devaluing at a rate of 'reported' 3% per year but everyone on the ground knows it's more than that. This is not a party specific problem this is both Democrats and Republicans responsible for this. So sure you could tax the rich more and they could give away their wealth but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to government spending.

LoganDark 1y ago
The thing is the government doesn't need that money as much as the people do. The government can just manufacture as much money as it needs to do whatever it wants. So if you're a billionaire and you decide to give all your money to the government thinking that'll do any good, that's a huge skill issue. You could've done a lot more good with that money than to just throw it in the money hole Onion-style.
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  The government manufacturing money inflates existing money which is essentially a tax on people who rely on currency more than assets which is the poor and middle class. I completely agree with you about billionaires being able to do more good with their money than the government.
  - saulpw 1y ago
    Being able to? Perhaps. Actually doing more good with their money? I have yet to see it writ large. (10 out of thousands is a pathetic proportion to use as evidence for this.)
    - the_real_cher 1y ago

aaron695 1y ago

[flagged]

armchairhacker 1y ago

How would you give away billions to benefit society? Know any research papers/articles/etc. that explore this?

kratom_sandwich 1y ago
German heiress Marlene Engelhorn [1] faced the same question when trying to give away her comparably small inheritance of 25 million euros. She resolved to assembling a committee of volunteers who decided how to distribute the money. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Engelhorn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Engelhorn

guenthert 1y ago

Why not link to the actual report? https://ips-dc.org/report-giving-pledge-at-15/ https://ips-dc.org/report-giving-pledge-at-15/

wvbdmp 1y ago

That is 9 out of 256 who took the pledge.