Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates slammed the recent Republican tax cut on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS. During an interview, Gates—who is worth an estimated $90 billion—denounced it as “regressive” bill that benefitted the wealthy much more than the poor and middle class.
When Zakaria asked Gates whether he wants to pay more taxes, the billionaire did not mince any words.
I need to pay higher taxes. I’ve paid in absolute, over than $10 billion, more than anyone else. The government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes.
This is something you don’t hear often coming from a billionaire: talking about taxes without complaining about paying them. And it’s a breath of fresh air.
Gates says that America should be strengthening its social safety nets instead of giving payouts to a powerful few while millions of Americans unnecessarily live in poverty. This is very much in line with a United Nations rapporteur’s findings about the state of poverty in the U.S., which says that the tax law could make the U.S. the most economically unequal society in the entire world.