Posted on 01/26/2012 7:21:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
On the heels of President Obama‘s State of the Union address, where he called for the “Buffett Rule”: a requirement that millionaires pay at least 30% of their income in taxes, the richest man in America, Bill Gates, weighed in on solutions to the country’s economic problems. “The United States has a huge budget deficit, so taxes are going to have to go up,” Gates told the BBC. “And I certainly agree that they should go up more on the rich than everyone else. That’s just justice.”
RELATED: Buffett Rule? NY Times Report Suggests Obama Plan To Ask More Of American Millionaires
“Is that a message you think that works with other people as wealthy as yourself, or is it just a small circle of friends — yourself, Warren Buffet, a few others,” the interviewer asked Gates.
“Well, I hope we can solve that deficit problem with a sense of shared sacrifice — where everybody would feel like they’re doing their part,” Gates replied. “And right now, I don’t feel like people like myself are paying as much as we should.”
Watch below via ThinkProgress:
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO
Open letter to Bill Gates:
FUBG
Bill, you start first ! Since you believe the gov’t knows how to spend our earnings better than we do, why don’t you step up to the plate and turn over ALL of your fortune to the gov’t. Be an example !
I am so sick and tired of these Democrat billionaires being hypocrites (they know that most of their revenue is either capital gains, or sheltered in municipal bonds), that I wish a Republican would take them up on their challenge and agree to tax them...but instead of taxing their revenue, tax their wealth. The tax would only apply to billionaires. The tax would apply every year until they are no longer billionaires. That should shut them up nicely!
How many wealthy Dems are criticized like Romney has been for being wealthy. Romney has acted like he is embarrassed by it.
If the peasants think it so horrible to be wealthy, why do they line up by the thousands to win the lottery?
They don't have an aversion to wealth...they have an aversion to the work required to become wealthy.
I am so sick and tired of these Democrat billionaires being hypocrites (they know that most of their revenue is either capital gains, or sheltered in municipal bonds), that I wish a Republican would take them up on their challenge and agree to tax them...but instead of taxing their revenue, tax their wealth. The tax would only apply to billionaires. The tax would apply every year until they are no longer billionaires. That should shut them up nicely!
— If the peasants think it so horrible to be wealthy, why do they line up by the thousands to win the lottery?
They don’t have an aversion to wealth...they have an aversion to the work required to become wealthy.—
LOL, so true.
What’s driving him I do not know. He is able to do math a whole lot better than that. He knows even if you taxed the rich 100% we could not make the budget balanced.
If Bill gates really believes that then he does not believe in prosperity and he does not believe in equality, and is no different from the slave owners who believed they had a right to make sure the good workers had the same benefits as the ones who just did what they had to do.
I believe what Bill Gates has in mind is to protect his fortune from a Government that is fast becoming a socialist dictatorship.
.
Every one of these self-justifying B*st**rds takes full advantage of the opportunities provided by a free market to reach the top. THEN they cut off the rungs behind them will righteous sounding hypocrisy.
OBVIOUSLY, wealth one already possesses is NOT INCOME - it is in the form of ASSETS, which are not commonly (other than real property) taxed. IF GATES & BUFFET are so concerned about SOCIAL JUSTICE; then they should tax the NET WORTH of the rich - not the income of those trying to become rich.
All they are advocating is preservation of the status quo.
Let us not forget that Mr. Gates has famously arranged his assets in the form of a TAX EXEMPT foundation and has convinced Warren Buffet to also contribute some of his assets as well. So, both of these people are liberal hypocrites.
More importantly, they may be brilliant in their own fields but they are grossly ignorant of how big and Bigger government destroys both liberty and prosperity. It is important that we starve the Leviathan state rather than to feed it more.
Is Gates also referring to all the wealth he has hidden away in Swiss bank accounts?
2) When will Gates turn over to the Government all the monies he gives in donation, since he obviously has the belief that the Government would be better at putting that money to good use as opposed to those he currently donates to?
RE: Is Gates also referring to all the wealth he has hidden away in Swiss bank accounts?
I don’t think a man as smart as Gates does not know that Swiss Bank accounts are NOT secret anymore.
The IRS and the US government have bullied the Swiss into revealing ALL account holders in their banks and the Swiss, after many years of bravely resisting, surprisingly capitulated in 2009.
If you want a secret foreign account and don’t want it to be revealed to Uncle Sam, DON’T GO TO SWITZERLAND.
A bigger question is, if WE peasants think it is horrible to be rich, then why do WE keep voting into office people who are rich? What percentage of Congress are millionaires? The data indicates it is around 47%. The liberal ideology, thus, should suggest that WE the peasants would not want to be ruled by those who WE see as being the enemy.
The “secret†of being a member of the superwealthy, and not having to pay exhorbinent taxes, is to not receive any income. I say that Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros, and others, should be made to release all their financial information so that we can have a truer picture of what really goes on at that level.
Your reason is one of them - they like to be in their exclusive club without any "upstarts" horning in. They also know that higher taxes really won't affect themselves at all. There is no way to really tax the wealthy if they don't want to be.
Rush said yesterday that it was to keep the peasants with pitchforks away from their doors. Here's an article that goes into the "fear of envy" that liberals have as well:
The Secret to the Suicidal Liberal Mind
Rush explained this yeaterday.
When zillionaires make assinine statements about wanting their taxes raised so they can flush more money down the government toilet, it’s only to keep the liberals off their backs. Believe me, Gates is not the pathetic simpleton he sounds like.
I maintain that the House should craft a bill that specifically NAMES Gates, Buffett, and every other rich moron who CLAIMS to want their taxes raised (and there are signed petitions and websites all over the place where hundreds of names are available), and do exactly what it is they are asking for - - raise their tax rates.
Meanwhile, leave everybody else alone. (How rude and selfish is it for Gates and Buffett and the rest of that big mouth crowd to promote more government confiscation from OTHER people, people those punks don’t even know? /headshake)
With all that brain power to build MS into a successful brand and a standard platform ( even though they were predators in making it happen ) their is a disconnect ( ignorance ) of "Social Justice" and it's ties to esentially Socialism.
Why are so many brilliant men like Gates otherwise fools?
FWIW, I don't "envy" these men, I think Gates, Trump, Jobs and Buffett (especially) and most of all Jack Welch are highly overrated. And they think Newt is flawed? LOL !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.