WASHINGTON, DC - March 7 - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates today testified in response to questions from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that Gates agreed with his father that the estate tax should not be eliminated.

Bill Gates Sr. has been an outspoken advocate in favor of keeping the estate tax. “Instead of leaving more debt for the next generation, the United States should retain a robust estate tax and dedicate its revenue to increasing economic opportunity for the next generation,” the elder Gates, coauthor of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, wrote recently.

"I do agree with my dad, I think what he's doing there has a lot of merit," the Microsoft founder told Sanders during an appearance before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Gates, the wealthiest man in the world, testified at the Senate hearing that he has not spoken out extensively on the issue because he is focused on matters important to Microsoft and on global health issues the central mission of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's.

“I very much appreciate Bill Gates comments,” Sanders said. “His father, along with Warren Buffet and many others, agree that the inheritance tax should not be abolished. At a time when 37 million Americans are living in poverty, it is absolutely absurd to talk about cutting programs for the needy in order to extend tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.”

Sanders noted that the complete repeal of the estate tax, advocated by President Bush in his latest budget proposal to Congress, would cost more than $1 trillion from 2012 to 2021, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“When even the wealthiest man in the world is saying that President Bush has given too many tax breaks to the rich, we know our priorities have got to change,” Sanders said. “We need to make sure that our budget addresses the growing gap between the rich and the poor in this country and as a member of the Budget Committee I will try to do just that.”  

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