Money talks. And talk of money gets people with money talking. That seems to be the case, at least on Twitter, as Bill Gates engaged with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a back and forth about wealth and taxes.
It all started on Wednesday when the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder sat down for a fireside chat with The New York Times. Touching on a variety of topics, from Microsoft’s antitrust case history to political ads on social media to Jeff Bezos in space, Gates was asked about Warren and her 2020 presidential aspirations.
“I’m not sure how open-minded she is or that she’d even be willing to sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money,” Gates said, before weighing in further on proposals to tax the super rich.
“I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes. I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes,” Gates said. “If I had had to pay $20 billion, it’s fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have leftover. Sorry, I’m just kidding.”
Warren was paying attention to Gates — and his math — tweeting at him Wednesday night about her desire to meet and explain it all.
I'm always happy to meet with people, even if we have different views. @BillGates, if we get the chance, I'd love to explain exactly how much you'd pay under my wealth tax. (I promise it's not $100 billion.) https://t.co/m6G20hDNaV
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 7, 2019
Gates woke up Thursday morning in a complimentary mood, saying he was willing to talk. Perhaps he was buoyed by some of the chatter on Twitter that took his Wednesday stance as a signal that he’d rather vote to re-elect President Trump than see his fortune taxed away.
He replied to Warren, saying that she and other candidates are having an “interesting conversation” about solving tough problems and that he greatly respects the commitment to addressing wealth inequality and poverty in the U.S.
You and the other candidates are having a really interesting conversation on how to solve some of the world’s toughest problems like eliminating global poverty and avoiding a climate disaster (though those issues don’t get talked about as much as they should).
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 7, 2019
I greatly respect your commitment to finding ways to address wealth inequality and poverty at home. While we may disagree about some of the ways to get there, we certainly agree we need a lot of smart people committed to finding the path forward.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 7, 2019
I’m always willing to talk about creative solutions to these problems.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 7, 2019