The video interview of Bill Gates, and subsequent Twitter conversation between Gates and Elizabeth Warren, has gotten a lot of play in the last few days. Here is what Gates said, as reported by USA Today:
Speaking at The New York Times DealBook Conference on Wednesday, Gates said that he's open to higher wealth taxes: "I've paid over $10 billion in taxes. I've paid more than anyone in taxes. I'm glad to have paid—if I'd had to pay $20 billion, that's fine."
"But when you say I should pay $100 billion, OK, then I'm starting to do a little math about what I have left over," Gates said. "Sorry, I'm just kidding."
Gates also said he wasn't sure Warren would be open to "sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money" to discuss policy ideas.
The first thing I note is that Gates is being misinterpreted by a lot of people. There is no indication that he thinks that he would really have to pay 100 billion under Warren’s plan. In fact, he expressly said that he was “just kidding.” His words feel more like somebody saying “If you talking this amount, I’m OK with it, but if you’re talking that amount, that would be too much.” Sounds more like preliminary bargaining than protesting.
Here is what I see from that conversation so far: Bill Gates has the potential to be an important ally. Trashing him is counter-productive. I mean, can you imagine any of the Koch brothers saying that they are “fine” with paying 10 billion or 20 billion dollars in taxes? But Gates said he was. Then he said he was “not sure” that Warren would be willing to talk with him, which constitutes honest skepticism, but not outright rejection. So her Twitter response was exactly right:
"I'm always happy to meet with people, even if we have different views. @BillGates, if we get the chance, I'd love to explain exactly how much you'd pay under my wealth tax. (I promise it's not $100 billion.)"
Visceral hatred of all billionaires won’t help win us the next election. When a rich person comes along and expresses sympathy for Progressive policies regarding both social action and the taxation measures to accomplish it, that sympathy should be encouraged, not trashed. When Warren Buffet says right out loud that he thinks it’s wrong for him to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary, we should welcome that insight, and welcome him. Remember, the Right already thinks that George Soros is Evil Incarnate, so not all billionaires are supporters of arch-conservatism.
If Elizabeth Warren is smart (and I think everybody agrees that she is), then she definitely will sit down with Gates, and others, to find out what kind of progressive tax plan they would be willing to support.