I am once again simultaneously glad this is happening and infuriated that we live in a world where it is necessary for people suffering to rely on the largess of billionaires.
this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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Sadly, even if that billion dollars was somehow taxed, the obstructionists in government would be sure to stop it from going to reproductive rights. So oddly enough a billionaire is the only way for this kind of good to happen.
in the United States*
There are other countries that manage taxes just fine.
It’s harder to obstruct the greater majority of people in other governmental systems. Ours is set up so literally one bad actor can fully hijack the entire legislative process, and that bad actor can be elected by the minority of the population.
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
But think of the tax implications for her and the congratulatory slaps on the back. See? The system works.
You're right, fuck charitable giving and social work, you might in some way be incentivised to do it and then what's even the point?! We should just rage at the systemic issues from afar, that way we don't risk having some rando on the Internet think we're an asshole. 👍
Donating to charity is bad then? Weird flex
It's not bad but, is not like she's making some huge sacrifice either. I think she'll manage to live off the 100+ billion dollars she has left.
Omg people like you won't be happy until everyone else is destitute. This attitude gets us nowhere.
Yay, a small portion of the taxes that the wealthy like her should have paid over the years that could have gone to the same thing but based on the decisions of society and not dependent on one wealthy person!
I agree that the insanely disproportionate taxes are causing more problems than donations are solving. However, as billionaires go, Bill and Melinda Gates are exceptionally philanthropic.
Philanthropy is a way for people who created wealth on the backs of their underpaid employees in their businesses that broke multiple laws and dodged taxes. If they actually cared about people they would have paid higher wages or had profit sharing, and would not have pushed for tax breaks for the wealthy.
Nobody calls a blue collar person who donates to charity a philanthropist.
You’re right, but they’ve almost eradicated polio worldwide. So there’s that.
Bill spoke out against Trump’s disproportionate tax cuts, as well as the growing wealth inequality, and called for increasing taxes on the wealthy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/03/bill-gates-americas-tax-system-is-not-fair.html
He also cofounded The Giving Pledge, an agreement to give the majority of his wealth away to charity rather than pass it on to his children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_eradication
Polio eradication, the permanent global cessation of circulation of the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes, is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Rotary Foundation.[1] These organizations, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Gates Foundation, have spearheaded the campaign through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Successful eradication of infectious diseases has been achieved twice before, with smallpox in humans[2] and rinderpest in ruminants.
Hey look, and example of a rich guy buying credit for something that was already being done!
He also spoke out against Trumps disproportionate tax cuts for the wealthy, and called for increased taxes for top earners.
Oh, so he spoke out about the thing he abused to get wealthy, that doesn't make him a hypocrite!
They paid for the GPEI initiative cited in your comment. It literally says “The Gates Foundation” in your quote.
They then spent another $1.2B to do what the WHO couldn’t accomplish.
The first problem they tackled was getting the vaccine to remote and war-torn areas while maintaining efficacy. Once they accomplished that, all that was left were isolated tribes. They then paid anthropologists to spend years assimilating into remote villages around the world to earn their trust so they would accept the vaccine.
And they could be just as philanthropic while also paying their fair share of taxes because they're just that rich.
He is, and he’s asking the government to make him pay more. He’s a rare one for sure.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/03/bill-gates-americas-tax-system-is-not-fair.html
What's stopping him from simply writing Congress a check?
So they are some of the best of thieves and abusers.
Bill and Melinda WERE philanthropic. Then Bill did a cheat and eventually got divorced.
She was always his better half. Bill has always been a piece of shit business man and only started his philanthropy due to Melinda. That's why there's not so much of that same philanthropy from ol' Microsoft, himself, as of late.
Indeed. Now she has only ca. USD$11B left over to survive with. She can buy only five, possibly six Sentinel ICBMs.
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$11B is her net worth prior to issuing the $1B donation. When was the last time you gave 9% of your net worth to a cause?
When was the last time you had USD$10B? Next you're gonna defend Mackenzie Scott's hard-earned USB$34B, I suppose.
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Trump would have put it into a wall and Big Macs for his Cheeto-dusted minions.
"The decisions of society" is how we got Trump and enough wrong-wing Supreme Court Justices to eliminate reproductive rights. You really think the billions we could get in taxes from the billionaires would be wasted on restoring rights and supporting women and children, when there's a military industrial complex to feed? Until the day capitalism collapses, Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scotts should be praised. Not for their own egos, but in order to entice those who live by "what's in it for me?" into better uses of their obscene wealth than yachts.
I'm not going to praise people for giving back a small portion of their ill gotten gains. That would be like praising the mob for opening soup kitchens with the money they made through criminal enterprise.
I dunno f bill gates ever killed anybody. The government kills people all the time. If anyone is the mob in this scenario, it's the feds. They're the most violent gang on the block by a wide margin.
I knew when I read these comments people would be criticising her.
Right? What a POS for giving 10% of her net worth for women’s reproductive rights.
Giving one single person power like this, is not right. You get to pick and choose what is important and what isn't. That is why we pay taxes so it can help more people in a wide range of programs.
Just like their drive to rid the world of Malaria. Organizations reported Malaria as not an issue in their area but due to the money coming from them, they had to switch their focus to Malaria.
Plus, lets not forget how tuwy mad their mpney by destroying other companies and creating a monopoly. In close meetings, these people are not fighting to be taxed. They are buy politicians and protecting their wealth.
This is a policy failure.
Eat. Billionaires.
Oh, look... the capitalist parasites are laundering their legacies again.
Melinda > Bill
I mean, when you can't hide your side piece and your relationship with Epstein goes public, can you really blame her
All billionaires are bad. Especially the Gateses.
I'd like to understand how tax evasion works on Empire (aka USA)
Predictable comment section is predictable.
Should have created a charity to give out knee high socks or something, I guess. I dunno.
Article doesn't list a single charity or organization that she is "supporting". Just a vague "reproductive rights" name for the headlines. Launder it harder Melinda.