Gates criticises wealth tax
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has become the latest billionaire to criticise US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren for her signature wealth tax.
In an appearance at the New
York Times DealBook Conference, Gates said he had paid
US$10 billion (NZ$15.7b) in taxes and wouldn’t have minded paying twice that, but joked, ‘‘When you say I should pay $100b then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over.’’
Gates supports higher estate taxes and ‘‘super progressive tax systems’’, but questioned whether Warren’s 6 per cent tax on assets of the wealthy would prove counterproductive.
‘‘I do think if you tax too much, you do risk the capital formation’’ and innovation, as well as imperilling the United States ‘‘as the desirable place to do innovative companies’’, he said.
Gates said he had not spoken to Warren about her tax plans.
‘‘I’m not sure how open-minded she is,’’ he said, or that she’d want to talk to ‘‘somebody who has large amounts of money’’.
Warren’s tax would apply to households worth $50 million or more and would pay for a bevy of progressive proposals, including her $21 trillion Medicare For All plan.
Two other billionaires, JP Morgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon and investor Leon Cooperman, have criticised Warren’s wealth tax.
She responded to both via Twitter, saying they should be willing to pay more in taxes to help others achieve the American Dream. –