Bill Gates called for higher taxes on the wealthy in a New Year's Eve blog post. Here's a look at the American billionaires and multimillionaires who have asked the government to raise their taxes.

https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-asking-for-wealth-tax-americans-disney-soros-buffett-dalio

Taylor Nicole Rogers
Jan 2, 2020, 11:19 AM

In a post on his blog, Gates Notes, published Monday, the billionaire advocated for higher estate taxes.

"We've updated our tax system before to keep up with changing times, and we need to do it again, starting with raising taxes on people like me," Gates wrote.

Gates is not alone with this messaging. Billionaires from Warren Buffett to George Soros have proposed a wealth tax as a way to combat America's growing wealth gap and fund healthcare and education initiatives. In June, a group of 18 ultrawealthy Americans, including Abigail Disney and members of the Pritzker and Gund families, published an open letter asking presidential candidates to support a moderate wealth tax.

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In 2018, income inequality in the US reached its highest level in more than half a century. The ultrawealthy actually paid a smaller portion of their income in taxes than average Americans in 2018, an analysis of tax data by the University of California at Berkeley's Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman found.

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