America's richest man isn't going to make President Obama, the folks in the Occupy Wall Street movement, or their respective supporters in the media happy.
Appearing on ABC's This Week Sunday, Bill Gates laughed when asked about the Buffett Rule saying, "You can't raise the taxes we need just by going after that one percent...to really deal with the deficit gap we're talking about, that alone just numerically is not going to be enough" (video follows with transcript):
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: The Buffett Rule, for instance, and all the other proposals the president is making are being called class warfare by his opposition. Do you agree with the Buffett Rule? Do you support that?
BILL GATES: Well… (LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: Why is it funny?
GATES: Well, I just can't imagine the -- these millionaires and billionaires going down and -- barriciding (sic) the streets because they're going to have to pay four or five percent more in taxes. I mean it's going to be rough for them… There certainly is a case to be made that taxes should be more progressive. And, you know, that -- that's being debated by various people.
AMANPOUR: Do you support the Buffett Rule?
GATES: I'm not an expert on how we should do taxes. Clearly, you can't raise the taxes we need just by going after that one percent. Yes, I'm generally in favor of the idea that -- that the rich should pay somewhat more. But to really deal with the deficit gap we're talking about, that alone just numerically is not going to be enough.
