Bill Gates says right now is the best time to live for all of us, but even the billionaire philanthropist seems to believe that life can too good for the ultra-wealthy of society right now.
Gates asserts his belief that right now is “significant” The best time to be alive in its annual period”Ask me anything” on Reddit on Wednesday, with the rapid pace of scientific innovations and advancements giving humanity the opportunity to tackle existential challenges.
He discussed how important breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and clean energy technology are making him optimistic about the future, but also answered some questions about the ethics of being become a billionaire and whether it is acceptable for one person to own that much. richness.
Gates, whose current net worth is just over 100 billion dollars and had two spells topping the list of the richest people in the world, had an interesting answer to that moral dilemma: While he agreed that the super rich should be taxed higher, and more billionaires better follow him and give away all their richesHe doesn’t think anyone should be deprived of the opportunity to become a billionaire.
“I think it’s still a good thing to encourage new start-ups. Even if taxes go up, I wouldn’t ban anyone worth a billion but that’s just an opinion. I was very lucky,” he wrote in the AMA.
Tax the rich, but not too much
While supporting the idea that the rich pay more taxes, Gates defends what the private sector and personal finance drive can achieve as the world prepares to face existential challenges.
The Gates Foundation and his various private businesses are focused on providing solutions to climate change, education gapand lack of access to health care is a model for billionaire philanthropy. In his Reddit AMA, he even referred to giving away his fortune as his “full-time job.”
But even Gates doesn’t think philanthropy will be enough to tackle the world’s greatest threats, because Microsoft The founder is still a believer in the power of the free market under good guidance from governments. At the end of my annual year letter Published in December, Gates wrote that “philanthropy alone cannot eliminate greenhouse gases. Only markets and governments can achieve such speed and scale.”
In the same letter, Gates pointed out that while it “seems strange” to discuss the importance of profitable business ventures in the context of philanthropy, the private sector and profit motives remains well-equipped to make rapid and substantial contributions as the world evolves. to meet its great challenges.
But while Gates favors companies and the pursuit of wealth, he said in his Reddit AMA that billionaires could be controlled through higher taxes, adding that he was “surprised” by the tax not be increased while acknowledging “things are hard. for a lot of people.”
“I’m surprised the tax hasn’t been increased. For example, the capital gain rate can be the same as the ordinary income rate. I know things are difficult for many people,” he wrote.
Gates also acknowledges that the wealthy, even philanthropists, can sometimes get carried away, noting that “wealth can easily get you out of touch.”
Gates announced last year that he plans to donate “almost all“Based on wealth, ultimately finding a way to exclude yourself from the list of the richest. In 2010, Gates started For commitment with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, along with fellow billionaire and close friend Warren Buffett. The pledge — which begins with 40 signers — requires billionaires to sign a pledge that “publicly commits to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy during their lifetime or in their wills.”
As of June 2022, the project has received 236 commitments from 28 countries.
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