The world's richest man lives on the other side of Lake Washington, just east of Seattle. Recently, urged on by his wife Melinda, he created the world's largest and most generous
charitable foundation. He's made it very clear that he intends to become the world's greatest philanthropist, insisting that he'll give away the great majority of his fortune (90%?, 95%?) before he dies.
Still, even the relatively small proportion of his lucre that fails to become largesse will turn into a huge fortune for his three children. To illustrate, if he gives away 95% of his current net worth (estimated recently by Forbes as $53.0 billion), that leaves an estate of $2.65 billion for his children. Not exactly chump-change.
And also far above the exemption amount above which the estate tax is applied.
Now, Bill's father has long been a vocal advocate in favor of the federal and state estate taxes. In 2003, he and Chuck Collins published a well-received Beacon Press book on the subject: Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes.
But what of his son's views on the estate tax?
Microsoft Bill's views on the matter haven't been nearly as clear as his father's. The famously apolitical Bill III (his dad is actually William Henry Gates Jr.) rarely deals with political issues, much less political candidates. While his Microsoft successor Steve Ballmer is clearly a Republican, Bill Gates has distributed his political contributions in no particular direction. According to
opensecrets.org, in 2006 Bill has given money to (among others) David Dreier
and Jay Inslee, George Allen
and Ted Kennedy, Maria Cantwell
and Dave Reichert, Jack Carter
and John Ensign, the DSCC
and the Washington Republican Party. Pattern? What pattern?
It's refreshing and intriguing, then, to see that William H. Gates III recently made a large contribution to the No on Initiative 920 committee. That's an organization formed to oppose a Washington state initiative, on this year's general election ballot, that is designed to repeal the state estate tax. That tax, which exempts the first $2 million of the estate, which specifically exempts taxing the estates of family farmers, which comes into play for only about 250 estates per year (only the richest one-half of one percent of non-farm estates), which isn't "double-taxation" because Washington has no individual or corporate income tax, is earmarked for deposit into Washington's Education Legacy Trust Account. As explained on the No on Initiative 920 website,
The Account funds four crucial education programs: it pays for 7,900 higher education slots around the state, for increased financial aid for Washington state college students, for reducing K-12 class sizes in our schools across the state, and for a Learning Assistance Program for K-12 students who are underperforming academically.
Based on his well known prior advocacy, one would, of course, expect William H. Gates Jr. to have contributed to the No on Initiative 920 committee. And he has. According to reports from the state's Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), Bill's dad gave $5000 in June and another $10,000 in August.
But the PDC reports also show contributions by William H. Gates III, to the tune of $10,000 back in March and $150,000 in early September. That last contribution is the second-largest chunk of money contributed to the No on Initiative 920 campaign, trailing only the $500,000 given by the National Education Association.
On the other hand, Bill's contribution pales by comparison to the $839,825 (so far) that downtown Seattle developer and uber-Republican Martin Selig has selfishly contributed to the principal campaign to kill the estate tax. Selig's open wallet constitutes nearly 70% of the total contributions to that effort. Such self-aggrandisement is particularly loathesome in light of Darryl's guest post of a few weeks ago on local progressive blog HorsesAss.org, wherein he outlines the background of repeal-campaign leader Dennis Falk. One assumes that Mr. Selig knows full well that he is funding a John Bircher, a homophobic and violent rogue cop, a black helicopter/UN-is-communist conspiracy nut, a member of the virulently anti-semitic Christian Patriot movement. Here's more on the revolting Messrs. Selig and Falk, from Seattle's Real Change:
But coupled with such success, however, are numerous instances where Selig (who is responsible for construction of the Columbia Center, the largest building west of the Mississippi River until 1989) found himself in a seemingly intractable financial bind. In 1997, to name but one example, the IRS placed liens against a number Selig's properties after informing him he had failed to pay federal taxes for three quarters. At the same time, a janitorial company in one of his buildings sought unpaid fees. Another company placed a lien against 21 properties. All told, the government and two companies were asking for $6.5 million. Selig orchestrated three major loan packages and bailed himself out.
I-920 is the brainchild of former Seattle police officer Dennis Falk, who serves as the committee's chairman and campaign manager. Falk's desire to upend the state estate tax has been flowing through his blood for 25 years.
It was back in 1981 that Falk and others worked to place an initiative on the ballot that would have aligned the state's estate tax with the federal estate tax credit. He met with success: the initiative passed.
But in February 2005, after a legal challenge, the state Supreme Court abolished the tax. Legislation later that same year approved a newly revised state tax, currently in effect. Falk's push for passage of I-920 is aimed at overturning that revision.
[...]
In 1978, Falk served as co-chair for Save Our Moral Ethics (SOME), the force behind an initiative that worked to repeal a fair employment and open housing law. Passage of the SOME initiative would have adversely affected some of Seattle's residents: namely, the Emerald City's lesbians and gays. The initiative failed.
Falk has also served as a leader of the John Birch Society, which, while proclaiming on its website to work to "warn against and expose those organized forces who seek to abolish U.S. independence," is widely viewed as an ultra-right wing, ultraconservative group with active chapters in all 50 states. Not everyone is happy with Selig's interest in I-920. George Scarola, legislative director of League of Education Voters, says his group is dismayed by Selig's actions.
"As friends of education, we are just appalled that prominent, wealthy citizens would be taking money opportunities from other people's children to benefit very rich children," says Scarola. "It's nuts."
Getting back to where we started, it's wonderful to see that Bill Gates has made it clear where his sympathies lie on the issue of the estate tax. I have long believed that he probably sees eye-to-eye with his father (and his good friend Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in the world) on the subject, but now we have some tangible evidence that it's so.
Perhaps we're beginning to be able to answer the question proposed by Salon's Andrew Leonard way back in early 1998 -- Is Bill Gates a closet liberal? -- in the affirmative.
[adapted and cross-posted from Peace Tree Farm]