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Comment by jonas21 | Hacker News Reader

And yet... how many other billionaires do you see going out and saying that the capital gains tax rate is too low and climate change is the biggest threat to humanity.

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Buffett has been beating the "higher taxes for rich people" drum at least since the 2008 recession, maybe longer. He won't actually open his wallet to push for these policies mind you. That would be a bridge too far.

Are you really saying the billionares who pledged more than 90% of their wealth to charity, and will "only" leave their kids 10 million dollars isn't backing up what he says?

charity is part of the problem, and not part of the solutions.

It's not like you just send the government more money if you feel like they should tax more... People like Buffet and Gates donate so much in part because they believe that wealth should be redistributed better than the government currently does

Would his money be better spent lobbying politicians largely by swelling their campaign war chests, or directly funding charitable causes?

Well his buddy Warren Buffet also says he should pay more taxes. I find his stance refreshing - he's going to pay only what's required while advocating changing the rules so that everyone pays more. Lots of people say "well he's free to pay more if he want's to but he's not". Some call it hypocrisy. Some call it humility.

A lot? I know Warren Buffett has similar views, and I've seen other very wealthy liberals claim taxes and climate change were big concerns. When people get very wealthy, they seem to think less about their finances and more about their legacy and public perception, and honestly when you're that wealthy, you have so much that taxes don't really matter anymore.

There are a lot of very wealthy philanthropists, and I think that's because people seek meaning in their life once they no longer get benefit from earning more.

Some do, some don’t. Bill and Warren are of course prominent examples of billionaire philanthropists.

Conversely I could name on famous multimillionaire frequently in the news these days, that has a track record of treating charitable foundations as tax dodging piggy banks. So there are all sorts.

I agree they probably stop caring about their tax bill because they are billionaires. I find it disingenuous however to then look down the income ladder to people earning more than $1 million and including them in your “we don’t pay enough taxes” bucket.

It's not the same, but even if you are not a billionaire, there comes a point where giving relatively more of your added income serves a greater good (i.e. funding for gov't) than the money just being in your bank account. Once you make more than you need to keep up your lifestyle (at whatever level that may be) the suggestion to give back more is not unjustified.

The question is which is more effective at serving "the greater good": the government or charity? Or option #3: free enterprise, which creates jobs, goods, and services?

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