Bill Gates is the second-richest man in the world, sitting at second place behind Jeff Bezos with $106 million. This is despite having given over $35 billion to charity over the years.
But if some laws being considered in the US are put into effect, all of that could change.
Reuters
"The strategy that's been used on the investments is to be over 60% in equities," Gates told Bloomberg Television in an interview recently. It's how he's managed to add another $17 billion to his net worth just this year. At least $60 billion of his fortune is in equity assets as of this week.
And that's part of the problem most people, and even some lawmakers, have in the US. With all of this unnecessary wealth locked up in the coffers of America's richest 0.1 percent, the poor in the country are getting poorer, and even the lower middle class are sliding into poverty. So they've been considering a "wealth tax".
Spearheaded by Senator Elizabeth Warren, this seeks to put a 2 percent tax on US households with a net worth greater than $50 million, and 3 percent for net worths greater than $1 billion. The idea is that this tax would only hit the richest 0.1 percent in the country, raising approximately $2.75 trillion over 10 years. That money, she's proposed, could go towards eliminating student debt in the US, with the government using these tax funds to either slash or eliminate the price of a higher education, depending on the income level of the student's home.
Most of the billionaires who will be affected by this have as such been shouting down the plan, calling it everything from unfair to inefficient. However, Bill Gates it seems is on board.
"I doubt, you know, the US will do a wealth tax but I wouldn't be against it," he said in the interview. "The closest thing we have to it is the estate tax. And I've been a huge proponent that that should go back to the level of 55 percent that it was a few decades ago."
And it's not like the 63-year-old is fine with it because it won't affect him; far from it. In fact, the two economists that helped Warren write up her plan have done the calculations of what the three richest men in the US would be worth if America had a wealth tax dating back to 1982. If that were the case, Amazon's Jeff Bezos today would be worth $87 billion instead of $160 billion, Gates would have $36 billion instead of $97 billion, and Warren Buffett would be sittin on $27 billion instead of $88 billion.?
Reuters
Take note, though their fortunes would have been effectively halved, they would still be comfortable billionaires. And the money taxed could have been used to subsidize education, healthcare, and so many other areas that are desperate for funding.
Gates isn't just behind the idea of taxes on higher incomes though, he also insists that America's wealthiest need to exhibit greater transparency. "I'm for way more financial transparency. I don't like that you can have trusts where nobody knows who owns it," he said.