"I Need To Pay Higher Taxes," Said Billionaire Bill Gates
LIFESTYLE
"I Need To Pay Higher Taxes," Said Billionaire Bill Gates
Bill and Melinda Gates have probably given away more money to charity than any other living person in history. And every year, they release an Annual Letter. The document is a scorecard of their activities in the past year.
gettyimages
This year, the couple answered to several questions that many Americans and followers of The Gates Foundation have been asking.
Melinda and I got a kick out of doing our first autocomplete challenge. We answer more tough questions in our Annual Letter: https://t.co/YO3taYNxIL pic.twitter.com/8CyCBw0vo2
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) February 14, 2018
The Gates have come under fire for the amount of money they donate to charity in America. Last year, they gave $500 million out of $4 billion to help the US.
Although Melinda and I see a lot of disease and poverty in our travels—and many other big problems that need to be solved—we also see the best of humanity: https://t.co/4mnnK5rx47 pic.twitter.com/wrBATwV6jc
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) February 18, 2018
Without comparing the situation in America to any other country, Melinda said that their mission was to help those in need.
Bill says he should pay more taxes
While speaking with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Bill Gates stated in definite terms, "I need to pay higher taxes." The billionaire agreed that the GOP tax law cut taxes for corporations when it should have done the opposite.
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.
gettyimages
Bill Gates has over $90 billion dollars and has given away more than $40 billion dollars to charity. Still, he feels like the wealthy are not doing enough. A lot of his contributions are to charities and foundations outside the United States.
Billionaire Bill Gates says he should pay "significantly higher" taxes https://t.co/kVPWej9rZT pic.twitter.com/9gHtSXhODs
— CNN International (@cnni) February 20, 2018
Charitable donations may go a long way, but the billionaire says they will never be enough. He also added that it was the responsibility of democratic governments to fix poverty and dismal living conditions in their countries.
Higher taxes for robots
With the advancement of modern technology, thousands of jobs are lost to machines every year. Some estimates say that 47% of all jobs will be taken over by machines in 25 years. In this light, Bill Gates insists that taxation should not ignore the change. According to him, a “robot tax” system needs to be instituted.
Automation is an inevitable outcome in most work environments. Still, the billionaire does not say conclusively that taxation would fix the unemployment problem. But it is a concern that needs to be addressed by governments who depend on tax income.