Who, you ask, was the anti-corporate, wide-eyed liberal who said that?

The answer is none. It was written by William H. Gates Sr., the father of Bill Gates, the multibillionaire of Microsoft fame, following Congress' passage of the 2001 tax cut bill.

Included in the tax cut, of course, was the eventual repeal of the nation's estate tax. The senior Gates had been advocating for months that it would be unwise to repeal the tax, even though he, his son and many other rich people who joined him would benefit by its repeal.

"A hundred years ago, we did have a rigorous debate about the need to tax large accumulations of wealth," he wrote in a piece in the Washington Post. "Then, as now, wealthy people took a stand in favor of inheritance taxes. Andrew Carnegie personally testified before Congress in favor of the estate tax.

"The fate of the estate tax goes to the heart of the American experiment," he continued. "What has made America distinct from Europe is our effort not to create hereditary aristocracies and our suspicion of concentrated wealth and power weakening our democracy.

"It was understood a century ago that the estate tax was an attempt to balance conflicting American values: on the one hand, our respect for private enterprise and personal wealth, and on the other, our concern for democracy and equality of opportunity."

Gates Sr. had organized more than 1,000 American business people to oppose the repeal of the tax, but their pleas fell on deaf ears with this Congress, which is more concerned with passing tax breaks for those who lavish them with campaign contributions.

As Gates said, "They cited the plight of farmers, but when a reporter asked for living examples of real small farmers who had lost their farms, they couldn't be found. The deliberative tradition of the Senate caved under the pressure of ideology over reality."

Yes, to all too many in Congress today, the U.S. government is an evil, to be disdained and ridiculed. To them, and to too many Americans, sending it taxes to do its work is to be avoided at all costs.

Perhaps they should stop to listen to one more thing Bill Gates Sr. said:

"Our society has facilitated wealth-building by creating order, protecting freedom, creating laws to govern property relations and our marketplace, and investing in an educated work force. What's wrong with the most successful people putting one-quarter of their wealth back into the place that made their wealth and success possible? Many people repay their universities this way. Why not their country?"

Copyright 2001 The Capital Times

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