One of the worst things about many U.S. billionaires, like Warren Buffett, is that they keep demanding to pay higher taxes. If they want to fork over more of their income, then why can’t they simply write a check to the U.S. Treasury Department?
On Sunday, speaking in an interview with CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argued that more people in his position should be forced “to pay significantly higher taxes.”
He slammed the Republican tax bill, averring that it will only benefit corporations and wealthy individuals.
“It was not a progressive tax bill, it was a regressive tax bill,” he said. “People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you’d like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes.”
With a net worth of $92 billion, Gates is the second-richest person in the world.
If Gates wants to give the state more money to bomb foreign nations, waste on frivolous projects, and burn cash, then he can voluntarily do so. Nothing is stopping him.
Except his own ego.
I think it’s pathetic that Mr. Bill, who seems to have a running bet against Warren Buffett to be known as the world’s greatest benefactor since John D Rockefeller would complain about not being able to voluntarily make contributions of his own choosing. He seems to oppose being able to make his own decisions about what to do with his own wealth. Instead, he’d rather someone else make those decisions for him. There’s a reason the term “idiot-savant” was invented. The world’s most perfect example of one is Mr. Bill.
Consider also that the Bill & Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation is administered by…his parents! Didn’t Mr. Bill ever grow up?
Several years ago, the state of Washington was debating whether to institute a state income tax. The strongest lobbying force for instituting a state income tax was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation! And then there’s the aforementioned Warren Buffett, who has made his final charitable contribution (to be made upon his death) conditional on whether there is still a federal tax deduction for charitable contributions!
No wonder Buffett is opposed to the Fair Tax. It’s all about selfishness, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just his total hypocrisy about the issue that’s bad.
Hey Mr. Bill: If you want to make a contribution to the Treasury, just open your bloody checkbook and write a check. Do something in life that you WANT to do, instead of doing it only because you are FORCED to do it.
After all, that’s the difference between liberty and tyranny.
But I guess you prefer tyranny, along with forcing other people to surrender more of their money at the point of a gun. All because you don’t have the moral courage to just write a check without being forced to by someone else.