Bill Gates: I shouldn’t be this rich
BILL Gates has said he believes billionaires like himself should have to pay more tax.
The founder of Microsoft yesterday told the Mail that he had paid too little tax and did not deserve to be so rich.
The 63-year-old, who is worth around €83billion, said he and other business barons should have to contribute more.
The father-of-three added that he supported calls for more clarity on how much corporation tax technology giants hand over.
BILL Gates yesterday claimed he had paid too little tax and did not deserve to be so rich.
The 63-year-old, who is worth around €83billion, said he and other business barons should have to contribute more.
In an interview with the Mail, he said: ‘I have paid more than $10billion (€8.8billion) in taxes but I should have paid more.
‘I more than followed the law but I think things should be more progressive.’
The father-of-three said he supported calls for more clarity about the taxes paid by technology giants so it is easier to see whether the amounts handed over are fair.
‘I’m a big fan of transparency,’ he said. ‘In terms of corporate tax, if people want to collect more from different types of companies then we need to change the law.’
He made his fortune after founding Microsoft in 1975. It is now one of the world’s most valuable companies. Mr Gates, who stepped back from his day-to-day role in 2008, is one of a handful of billionaires who have promised to leave most of their fortunes to good causes rather than to their children. With his 54-yearold wife Melinda, he runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to tackling poverty and disease in poorer countries.
‘I don’t deserve my fortune,’ Mr Gates added. ‘Nobody does. It has come through timing, luck, and through people I worked with. I certainly worked hard and I think software has been a beneficial thing, but I benefited from a structure too.
‘I don’t think giving the money to my children would be good for them or good for society.
‘So after whatever consumption I have, and after some left aside for the kids and for taxes, the rest of the money goes to the foundation.
‘Melinda and I work hard all the time to make sure that money goes to help those most in need.’
Mr and Mrs Gates were spurred into their philanthropic work after reading in a newspaper about hundreds of thousands of children dying of diarrhoea in poor parts of the world.
Since then, global health schemes – with help from governments and charities such as the Gates Foundation foundation – have helped save millions of lives that would otherwise have been lost to diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
However, Mr Gates fears these schemes are under threat.
He said: ‘I worry that wealthy countries are turning inward and will take such a limited view of their own self-interest that they’ll decide these efforts aren’t worth the cost.
Mrs Gates added: ‘Strengthening health systems overseas decreases the chance of a deadly pathogen like ebola becoming a global epidemic.’