More Disingenous Calls by Rich for Higher Taxes

The Gates family is beyond wealthy. Bill Sr. was a well-known attorney in Seattle, while his son Bill Jr. founded Microsoft and continues to run it today.

They are both now actively campaigning for the state of Washington to institute a state-level income tax (Washington currently has no such tax).

"The state that produced America's richest man has never taken a cut of its residents' income. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and his father would like to change that.

They are among the wealthy Washingtonians who have joined labor unions and other traditional Democratic allies to support a tax-the-rich ballot measure that is dividing the state's business leaders. Executives at Microsoft, Amazon.com and other technology companies have come out against it.

The initiative will test whether voters are willing to buck economic jitters and drain money from their rich neighbors at a time when national Democrats and Republicans have been waging an intense election-year battle over the merits of taxing the wealthy.

Washington's measure, known as Initiative 1098, would institute a new state tax on the top 1 percent of incomes to pay for education and health programs while trimming state property and business taxes. The campaign follows January's overwhelming decision by Oregon voters to increase taxes for corporations and wealthier households."

The support of the Gates' for this tax-the-rich proposal is probably critical for the ultimate passage of this measure.

By lending their support to this measure, they are trying to appear magnanimous and are also signaling to voters that even high-income people support the proposal.

However, although the younger Gates undoubtedly has a high income, his father is a retired attorney and most likely does not.

Would the Gates support this "soak-the-rich" measure if instead of implementing taxes on income it called for taxes on accumulated wealth?

Most likely they would not, as that would hit them hard in the pocketbook, while the current measure they ardently support won't actually reach one iota of their accumulated earnings.

It's time for the Gates family to stop pretending to be in favor of higher taxes. The reality is they do not support higher taxes when it actually means they'll have to pay the higher taxes themselves.

Like most Democrats and other so-called do-gooders, the Gates are firmly supportive of measures that put additional obligations on everyone other than themselves.