On the heels of a much-criticized Senate hearing over tech giant Apple’s tax practices, billionaire Bill Gates told an Australian reporter he believes the rich should pay even more.
“Well, I agree with Warren [Buffett] in 99 percent of all things,” including that the rich should have to pay more in taxes, Gates told Australia’s ABC News.
“I paid over $6 billion in US taxes, glad to have done it,” he added.
The reporter also asked about multinational tech corporations tax policy, in light of the Senate hearings concerning Microsoft’s major competitor.
“I don’t think anyone’s alleging that someone’s not following the rules so, you know, the issue here is different tax authorities looking at the rules and seeing if they,” he said. “[I]f it’s the will of the government to change what those look like.”
“[M]ost of the tax paid is the sales tax or value added tax and those are collected and that’s gigantic,” Gates said.
“There’s also some type of profit tax and that’s where people are saying the way the laws look at those work the way that countries want them to,” he continued.
Gates dropped out of college to go start what would become the largest software company and accumulated substantial wealth.
Since retiring from corporate America, he and his wife have dedicated themselves to philanthropic work around the world.
Gates is a signer of the the Buffett pledge, vowing to give away half of his worth by the time he dies. His net worth tops $100 billion.
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