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Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes Paperback – January 15, 2004

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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More than a thousand individuals of high net worth rose up to protest the repeal of the estate tax-Newsweek tagged them the "billionaire backlash." The primary visionaries of that group, Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, argue here that individual wealth is a product not only of hard work and smart choices but of the society that provides the fertile soil for succes. Weaving personal narratives, history, and plenty of solid economic sense, Gates and Collins make a sound and compelling case for estate tax reform, not repeal.
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  1. Print length
    184 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    January 15, 2004
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.35 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0807047198
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0807047194
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“When the wealthy themselves plead for the right to pay higher taxes, the situation becomes more challenging...The skeptics will say...‘Let the rich get rich! It‘s good for us!’ No society will remain healthy in the long run if it fails to pay attention to the distribution of income and wealth. It is thus Gates and Collins, rather than the mean-spirited advocates of Bushonomics, who are the true American patriots.”
—Michael Prowse, Financial Times

“After reading this persuasive volume, you‘ll think the whole case for repealing the ‘death tax’ is unhinged...”
—Rich Barlow, Boston Globe

“In their clearheaded primer on estate taxes, Gates and Collins...are doing urgent work. By pushing to repeal the estate tax, the Bush administration is doing all it can to shift the total tax burden away from the very wealthy and toward middle- and lower-income taxpayers. This is not only unjust, it‘s nuts. Inheritance taxes would only fall on the largest estates...It is a concept no less worthy for being old-fashioned.”
—E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post

“Bill Gates and Chuck Collins provide a clear rationale for retaining the estate tax in this helpful and unselfish analysis.”
—Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize

“Inheritance taxes are not about raising tax revenue. They are about ‘What Kind of Nation Do We Want to Be?’...This book gets our thoughts back on the right issues.”
—Lester Thurow, author of The Future of Capitalism

About the Author

William H Gates Sr. is the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. He serves as trustee for a number of Northwest and national organizations, including the national board of United Way.

Chuck Collins is the cofounder and program director of the Boston-based United for a Fair Economy and Responsible Wealth (www.responsiblewealth.org). He is coauthor of several books about economic inequality, including Economic Aparthied in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity.

Paul Volcker is former chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press; First Edition (January 15, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807047198
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807047194
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.35 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

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  1. Chuck Collins

    Chuck Collins

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    Chuck Collins is author of "Altar to An Erupting Sun" (Green Writer Press 2023), a future fiction novel about one community's response to climate disruption. Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future, writes, "We need more books like this one."

    His is author of 2021 book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions (Polity Press). His is also author of the popular book, Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good (Chelsea Green, 2016) Previous books include Wealth and Our Commonwealth, with Bill Gates Sr., and 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It (www.99to1book.org). He is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good and co-edits the web site, www.inequality.org. He is a national expert on economic inequality, tax policy, corporate power and class privilege and power. He lives in Vermont.

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  2. William H. Gates

    William H. Gates

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Cy Jurgens
5.0 out of 5 stars The Rickest People in America are not the Smartest
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
What a great treatise on how Great America really was by a man who raised a billioniare. The Dad is wiser than the son and his wife. For all of their billions our collective wisdom through a democratic republics form of governnment shows we the people are wiser than all the billionaires. As Mr. Gates so eloquently points out.
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billpz
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, comprehensive and brief!
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2003
Verified Purchase
Not written for numbers people, but for those interested in public policy and the future shape of our society. Shows how the unseen -- or perhaps frequently unexamined -- hand of a major part of tax law has profound effects. Treats all aspects of the debate. Gives a fair history of a number of main points around the last century's debate about appropriate national taxation. Lucid, readable; reasoned but passionate. Great suggestions for further reading. And all this in fewer than 140 pages plus appendices. Deserves a Pulitzer.
I have been a tax accountant for over 25 years, with a professional interest in this subject, and I learned a great deal!
32 people found this helpful
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V.H. Amavilah
4.0 out of 5 stars Estate taxes ain't that bad - under current deficits!
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2010
Wealth and Our Commonwealth is a fascinating book on a current topic. It addresses a simple, yet important, question which arises from the demands for the USA to abolish the estate tax on the very rich. The question is:"What kind of society do we want to become?" (p. ix). The answer turns out to be that to remain a decent society, and under current budget deficit scenarios, the USA must not abolish the estate tax. "Eliminating the estate tax on America's multimillionaires will impose another form of `inheritance tax.' But this tax will take the form of the substantial debt that we will leave to all the children of the next generation" (p. xiv).

It is not hard to agree with the conclusion of the book in light of two facts. First, one of the authors is Bill Gates, Sr - the father of Microsoft's founder. Since abolishing the of an estate tax stands to benefit his son, one would think he would love it. Second, the book comes after a large group of millionaires and billionaires petitioned against "wholesale repeal of the estate tax" (p. 1), suggesting that there is wide support for the tax out there. Third, in the Foreword to the book Paul Volcker, ex-Chairman of the Fed, agrees with the book, although he cautions that budget deficits have spending and revenue sides to them. Despite the Laffer curve hypothesis, eliminating estate taxes simply reduces tax revenue and redistributes the tax burden toward the middle class. The estate tax law has a long history, lined by supporters and detractors on both sides.
A "showdown" is looming in the horizon, because supporters of the abolition of the estate tax seem to ignore that private wealth depends on the commonwealth, so that the rich, just like everyone else, owe society something. To be worthy an American is to care about others, especially the less fortunate and children other than your own. Thus a fair distribution of the equality of opportunities is the foundation of American democracy, and estate tax revenues have long played a significant role in this. In fact, it has prevented the emergence of an aristocratic dynasty.

There is a lot to like about this book, but too many words, like too many cooks, spoil the broth. Highly recommended!!

Amavilah, Author
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2 people found this helpful
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Joyce Schuetz
5.0 out of 5 stars Books
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2014
Verified Purchase
Recommend this to everyone concerned about the future of the United States who wish to restore middle class to America.
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Bibliophile
5.0 out of 5 stars 6 Stars Out of 5
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2003
This extraordinary little book packs a gigantic punch. I'd love to summarize it here, but as soon as you buy the book, get straight to Chapter One. It's enough to make you sick in the stomach.
Is America a "democracy"? After Ch.1 you really wonder. A sample from p. 15: Around the turn of the century, shortly before WWI, the top 1 (one) per cent of the population owned 56.4% of the country's private wealth - at the same time, the authors tell us, "the wealthiest 10 [ten] per cent of households owned 90% of all wealth." Now, think about it: 90% of Americans together owned a mere 10% of the country! (And most of the country's wealth was in private hands, because the government at all levels owned very little of value. There wasn't even a national park in existence!) That's neither justice nor democracy.
American society started to improve since then, especially after the introduction of income tax. But things have again gone in the opposite direction in the last two decades, so that "the United States is now the most unequal society in the industrialized world." (p. 14)
This fact is borne out in the UN Human Development Report 2002. (I was surprised that this authoritative publication is NOT cited anywhere in this book.) This report gives the "Gini Index" for each country, among numerous other data. The Gini Index is not something out of Aladdin: It "measures inequality over the entire distribution of income or consumption. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, and a value of 100 perfect inequality." (p. 197) Ranked are these selected countries in the industrialized world: Denmark (24.7 - the least unequal society), Japan (24.8), other Scandinavian countries (including Finland) at around 26, then Germany (30.0), then English-speaking countries like my own Canada (31.5 - the lowest in this group), Australia (35.2 !!), the UK (36.8 - hardly news, what with their queen and lords), and finally the United States at 40.8. (France, the host of the French Revolution, is a surprising 32.7.) For comparison, developing China is 40.3 (beats the US by a hair - but not for long), India only 37.8 (I guess only a couple of people can be called rich there), and Russia is the most unequal of all at 48.7.....but then Russia is now run by a mafia of ruthless moneylords, much like America a century ago, when men like Rockefeller and Al Capone ran all the shows. (Still it is better than the gulag and secret police. And anything is better than communism.)
Getting rid of the estate tax won't help one bit. On the other hand, not repealing it in and of itself is just a small step in the right direction, hardly enough to stop the country from sliding down the slippery slope to a second Gilded Age. This book makes a very convincing argument why getting rid of the estate tax is truly a form of insanity the name of which is still not in the psychiatric textbooks. Bill Gates Sr.'s position is supported by his son (the world's richest man - mostly self-made). Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man (also self-made), disagrees with them only because he thinks the estate tax as it is does not go far enough. (He'd prefer to tax 100% of the super-rich's inheritance not given to charity.) This estate tax is absolutely, undoubtedly no "death tax" - as though everyone has to pay it, even the poor. Rather, it is really just "rich kids' tax"! Let's start calling the thing by its right name.
Andrew Carnegie is frequently quoted in this book, for good reasons. This mega-hero of the Gilded Age, who rose from abject poverty in a foreign country to become the richest man on earth, literally built America - with the steel from his furnaces, used in railroads and highrise buildings. He went even further than Buffett: "Any rich man [or woman, I assume] who doesn't give away his money to charity BEFORE he dies is a shame and a disgrace to society," as he said over and over. Carnegie certainly practised what he preached. (Before he died he gave away at least 95% of his worth, mostly to create free libraries for people too poor to have books.) Carnegie also believed in the estate tax: "Of all taxes this seems the wisest," in a memorable quote in this fine book.
At a time when many Americans worry about losing their jobs, when every citizen pays for the defense of the country, this is no time for the estate tax repeal - just so that the Forbes zillionaires own and control even more of the country while the rest have nothing or next to nothing. The supremely selfish, extremely greedy, totally irresponsible, unbelievably small-minded and short-sighted people who oppose the estate tax - and therefore dislike this book - hate and despise their fellow Americans more, and do more long term damage to America, than any Middle East terrorists because this kind of injustice (in Buffett's choice word) was what caused the downfall of Rome and is still yet another reason which encourages neo-Marxists everywhere.
This book is densely argued and extremely clearly presented. The 24 pages of sources in this slim little volume show the authors have done their homework, despite the omission I mentioned. Bill Gates Sr.'s authority is undeniable not only because he was already wealthy himself BEFORE his son became the world's richest human being (for at least the past ten years as far as I know), but also because he is himself a highly successful tax lawyer and in charge of one of the world's largest charitable foundations, the Gates Foundation. (One day it will be the world's largest.) If he doesn't know what he is talking about, I don't know who does. This book's Foreword is aptly written by the formidable Paul Volcker, former Fed Chairman.
I can't praise this book enough. It can go further though, as the public and private statements by Warren Buffett - a good friend of both Gates' - explain clearly why. Despite its admirable conciseness, this book can use a good general index at the end. (I want to be sure who said what when and why.)
24 people found this helpful
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