One rich guy who wants to pay higher taxes: Bill Gates Sr.

[kpete]

Source: McClatchy

* Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010
One rich guy who wants to pay higher taxes: Bill Gates Sr.
By Brad Shannon | Tacoma News Tribune

Bill Gates Sr., the retired lawyer and wealthy father of the Microsoft co-founder, thinks Washington state's tax system is out of whack and needs repair.

The poor pay too much tax, the rich pay too little, Gates says. And the school system, which is such a springboard for future economic growth in high-tech Washington, suffers with too little funding because the wealthy aren't paying their fair share of the investment, he says.

Gates' solution — an income tax on adjusted earnings that exceed $400,000 a year per couple or $200,000 for an individual — is drawing protest from Washington business leaders and owners, as well as anti-tax allies such as Tim Eyman, who says the phrase "income tax" is politically toxic in Washington.

Initiative 1098 would give tax credits to an estimated 80 percent of Washington-based businesses and would cut the state share of property taxes by 20 percent for businesses and homeowners. Critics say I-1098 would harm the economy by taxing earnings of people who own the businesses — money that most likely would put people back to work.




Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/24/102520/one-rich-guy-who-wants-to-pay.html#ixzz13KQOo6sI

[truthisfreedom]

1. He's right.

The wealthy aren't taxed enough.

[Abq_Sarah]

2. There is nothing preventing him from whipping out his check book

And writing a check to the treasury.

Does he have to wait until someone makes him do it?

[JerseygirlCT]

3. Whether that happened or not

would not do much to fix the structural problem he's calling attention to. (And has been for quite a few years, actually).

[ProudDad]

7. I'd rather see them bankroll a counter-balance

to faux-noise...

And bankroll a drive to pass an Amendment to fix Citizens United by stating that corporations are NOT PEOPLE...!

Like, well, Mr/Ms congresscritter, if you don't want to vote to end the fiction of corporate personhood, we'll just make sure you don't get re-elected...

[pnwmom]

9. It's his son who's the billionaire. He's doing very well

but not well enough to solve all WA's financial problems.

And his son is heavily involved in health programs in the developing world, where the need is greater than in WA.

[No Elephants]

13. maybe he does. But several thousand writing checks to the Treasury would be better.

[Kablooie]

18. It's the system he's talking about and he does donate a large percentage of his cash.

[applegrove]

4. I like him. He's a good egg. He convinced his son to become a huge philanthropist. He gave his son

'independence' at about the age of 13 because his son 'needed' to be at the computer lab until late at night. As father's go Mr Gates is a great one. And now this.

[CBHagman]

5. Mr. Gates Sr. has long been an advocate for more progressive...

...taxation. See the transcript from Now with Bill Moyers at the link below.

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_inheritance.html

BILL MOYERS: Conservatives call it the death tax. Lawyers call it the estate tax. I grew up hearing it called the inheritance tax. And therein lies a story of wealth and power.
After a 10-year campaign hatched by a small group of wealthy families, Congress repealed the tax in the year 2000. Their crusade climaxed with a PR campaign that made it seem the estate tax was about to kill off the family farm.

The law repealing the tax was delivered to the White House on a bright red tractor but President Bill Clinton wasn't buying. He vetoed the bill and the estate tax continued. No sooner had George W. Bush reached the White House, however, than he made repeal of the tax a big priority and Congress of course was happy to oblige.

(SNIP)

But the story doesn't end there. There's a campaign to restore the inheritance tax. And it's being led, believe it or not, by some of the country's richest people including Bill Gates, Sr., the patriarch of the Gates family who heads the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chuck Collins, an heir to the Oscar Meyer fortune who founded the organization called Responsible Wealth.

Warren Buffett, to his credit, has been blunt about the unfairness of the taxation rates imposed on middle-income earners, observing that his secretary ends up paying taxes at a higher rate than he does. I recall seeing Buffett at a forum or similar on PBS and a young man asking him about the flat tax. Buffett firmly rejected the idea as inherently unfair.

I'd point out too that Christine O'Donnell, the GOP's Senate candidate for Delaware, is opposed to progressive taxation. I have absolutely no idea how someone can get away with such stupid pronouncements, but there you have American politics in the year 2010.

[No Elephants]

14. Thanks, I did not realize Moyers was still anywhere on PBS.

[MindandSoul]

6. This sounds like a man with integrity and a social conscience!

Good for him!
I hope his son will follow suit!

[nolabear]

8. He's in a TV spot here in WA St. where he gets dunked in a dunk tank.

Sorry I can't pull it up on the Youtubes; it's a work of art. Happy to get soaked for a little more.

[MilesColtrane]

10. I'd be happy if he'd just stay out of education "reform".

Keep your goddamn money, sir, just stop trying to screw with public education.

[No Elephants]

17. Gates Senior?

[PatrynXX]

11. Bill Gates et al are certainly better than that Steve Jobs snob

Bill jr didn't used to be such a cool guy. But he's changed. Steve hasn't.

[Frank Booth]

12. Uh oh. Steve Jobs isn't going to like hearing this.

If passed, it would require him to actually give some of his money away.

[OneGrassRoot]

15. He may be part of this group:

I applaud what they're doing. As one of the members said in an article I read a while back, sure, they can write checks to philanthropic organizations, but there are some things governments are uniquely positioned to do (infrastructure, healthcare), so they want their money being used for that sort of good.

They have more options as to how they can "do good" than most of us here, that's for certain. Still, I do applaud the effort.

:)

"Responsible Wealth, a project of United for a Fair Economy, is a network of over 700 business leaders and wealthy individuals in the top 5% of income and/or wealth in the US who use their surprising voice to advocate for fair taxes and corporate accountability. If you're in the top 5% (over $200,000 household income and/or over $1 million net assets) and you care about economic justice, please join Responsible Wealth today!"

http://www.faireconomy.org/issues/responsible_wealth

[BzaDem]

16. Cue the people claiming his support here is actually a secret scheme to enrich himself, along with

all of his private charity contributions.

[Angry Dragon]

19. Here is one thing I do not understand

If the republicans are so animate about people pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps
then they should be in favor of the inheritance tax. The money is just going to children
that had nothing to do with creating it.