Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
Bill Gates gives away money he made before.
I do not want to see the write-offs he gets for that from his tax bill.
Before anything else, Gates is a business man. THAT is what made all the money running after him.
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Still, he is giving away huge sums rather than just holding on to it or spending it all on extravagant material things to satisfy a need to acquire and to showoff their wealth. Gates and Warren Buffett, together have not only pledged to donate the bulk of their wealth, they also set up a foundation to encourage other billionaires and others of high wealth to pledge to donate the bulk of their wealth:
https://givingpledge.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Pledge
Anything that encourages persons of great wealth to try to assist others is well worth the effort. BTW, about twenty years ago, I read an article about the person who handles the Gates' financial affairs and one of the issues touched on was administration of the Gates' charities, at that time primarily funded solely by the Gates' own wealth. Their charity foundations are tax-exempt foundations and, as such, are under strict tax laws in order to maintain tax-exempt status. One of the requirements is a charity must spend a specific, and significant, portion of the available funds or lose their tax-exempt status. In the article the financial manager was asked about disbursements and, in an example, he stated one of the charities was required, in that tax year, to disburse over USD $350,000,000. That was twenty years ago; imagine what the amount must be currently, and, remember, that sum was for just one of the Gates' charities...
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