NEW YORK (Reuters) – Another 17 U.S. billionaires, including Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, have pledged to give away at least half their fortunes in a philanthropic campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
A total of 57 billionaires now have joined The Giving Pledge, which was launched by Microsoft founder Gates and investor Buffett in June. The campaign announced the new pledges in a statement late on Wednesday.
Gates, his wife Melinda, and Buffett have asked U.S. billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death, and to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision.
The Giving Pledge does not accept money or tell people how to donate their money but asks billionaires to make a moral commitment to give their fortunes to charity.
"People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?" Zuckerberg, who gave $100 million in September to the beleaguered public schools of Newark, New Jersey, said in a statement.
"With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts," he said.
GO HERE to read more.
EDITORS NOTES: It's a flat out fact, if you DON'T give it away, the U.S. Government will TAX it anyway BEFORE it's inherited. You're better off giving it away as part of your estate than you are giving it to your own Family. While this is an honorable gesture, believe me, these people are writing this off. It's a win/win for all of them. It's UNFORTUNATE we cannot just pass it on to our children and by our death the United States Government becomes your 50% partner without ever working for a cent of it.
13 comments:
Might as well give it to who you want to get it before the progressive communist party takes it from them.
They more than likely will not be able to write off the full amount of their donations. The govt only allows up to a certain figure, after that....tough tooties!
anonymous 4:22, try again! It amazes me how many of you who have no clue make anonymous statements without any credibility. Let me make this really simple for you. IF you win the Lottery tomorrow and win $1,000,000.00, about 50% of it will be taxed. IF you earn $1,000,000.00 income, if you BELIEVE only 33 1/3 of it will be taxed, you're nuts! By the time you die, 80% of it will go to the Federal Government. If you need more details, when I have time later I'll better explain it.
Bottom line is, IF you think the Government isn't already taking MOST of your money, why don't ALL of you have massive savings? Start adding in your property taxes, sales tax, gas tax and the list goes on and on. We're ALL in a 80% plus tax bracket, like it or not.
Amen Joe. I have been saying for years that if you factor in everything, the government consumes 75-80% of the total earned wealth in this country. If they weren't sucking the blood out of everybody with the ambition to get a job, we would all be rich.
Joe,
4:22 is not talking about the amount that the government is taxing. He's saying that they won't be able to write it off as taxes once it gets to a certain amount, which is true. The lottery thing is true though. You get an average of 1/3 of the earnings that you win.
Rich people have the means to hide their money from paying taxes anyway with our current tax code. Legislators create loopholes for businesses and individuals whose creative accountants exploit them. A flat tax is the only way to go.
Quote from article: The purpose of this exercise is not to make you feel sorry for the poor rich people. Quite the contrary. Barlett and Steele make the point that most efforts at tax "reform" are really attempts to reduce the tax burden on the wealthy. The most blatant recent example of this was the tax act of 1986. Between 1986 and 1987 the effective tax rate on millionaires fell from 40 percent to 29 percent, and as a result they paid $3.6 billion less in tax. Meanwhile people making from $50,000 to $75,000, a reasonably prosperous but hardly rich crowd, paid $7.6 billion more.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1118/do-the-rich-pay-very-little-tax
why should those with ambition pay more than same rate as those with non
9 times out of 10 they got money from a, inheritance, b, illegal action.
This mythical notion that most rich people got their fortunes through hard work and dedication, is just that. A myth.
Anon 9:15 - Where is your proof?
Hey, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg; Warren Buffett; Bill Gates; Steve Case; Carl Icahn; Michael Milken; Ted Turner; Michael Bloomberg; Larry Ellison; George Lucas and any other billionaire, ( Oprah ), Wiki leaks could use some help right now. Just sayin
9:15 i challange you on those stats. need proof.... thanks
even if they did inherit it, they hung on to it, 9 out of 10 with out money would of blew it
Post a Comment