Microsoft founder Bill Gates says in an interview with The Verge that he doesn’t have a problem with increasing tax for the rich but proposals targeting high-income brackets are missing the point.
Gates says tax increase should focus on wealth and not income because the super-rich has their wealth tied up in assets.
“They [rich people] have income that just is the value of their stock, which if they don’t sell it, it doesn’t show up as income at all, or if it shows up, it shows over in the capital gains side,” said Gates.
He also added that lawmakers can focus on the real estate tax, taxes on capital and Social Security.
This is in reference to the proposed tax policy of the new members of the Congress like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is pushing for a marginal tax rate up to 70 per cent for individuals with net income of $10 million and above. Currently, the marginal tax is at 37 per cent, hence the increase is really drastic.
Meanwhile, Gates’ view is somewhat aligned to the proposed Wealth Tax of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Last January, Warren proposed a wealth tax to households worth more than $50 million. She said that the collected fund can be used to raise social programs in the United States.
Gates had the title of the world’s richest man for decades but was unseated by Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos last year.
