Bill Gates says he should pay higher taxes, doesn't 'deserve' his fortune
Bill Gates says Ocasio-Cortez tax policy misses the mark
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reacts to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tax policies.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men, once again claimed he does not pay enough in taxes.
During an interview with the Daily Mail, the 63 year-old business man said that while he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes, he "should have paid more."
"I more than followed the law but I think things should be more progressive," he said.
Gates, who is worth an estimated $96.8 billion, also said he does not "deserve" his fortune.
"Nobody does," he said. "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."
When it comes to the future of that fortune, Gates believes that giving it to his children wouldn’t be "good for them or good for society." He does plan to give to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, however, which helps fight disease and poverty in other countries.
Gates said he was in favor of raising the inheritance tax – a sentiment he echoed during a recent podcast interview with the Verge, during which he also deemed Democrats calls for higher income tax rates a "misfocus."
"You finally have some politicians who are so extreme that I’d say, ‘No, that’s even beyond,’" Gates told the Verge. "You do start to create tax dodging and disincentives, and an incentive to have the income show up in other countries and things."
The billionaire businessman, however, does believe there are ways to make the current tax code more progressive.
Some of those ways include more progressive policies regarding not only the estate tax, but also the tax on capital, or reforming FICA and Social Security taxes.
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Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders recently released a proposal to expand the estate tax to a rate of 77 percent for those passing on assets in excess of $1 billion.
Sanders estimates that under his proposal, Gates would owe $73.54 billion, compared to $38.31 billion under current law.