Bill Gates answered your questions Monday on Reddit.
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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates thinks billionaires, including himself, should pay more in taxes to improve education and health care services in the US.
Gates on Monday hosted his seventh Reddit Ask Me Anything event on the popular social media platform. Redditors asked for his thoughts on taxes, threats to humanity, health care and climate change.
“If people want the government to do more, it needs to be funded and I see us needing to improve our education and health services,” wrote Gates. “A key element is making capital gains taxation more like ordinary income (some have suggested making them the same) and having an estate tax more like we had in the past (55 percent above $3.5 million).”
Gates said he’s paid $10 billion in taxes but should have to pay more on capital gains.
He was also asked what’s the greatest threat to humanity right now. Gates said terrorism and bioterrorism rank No. 1 in his concerns, then climate change comes in second.
“It is disconcerting to see a rise of countries turning inwards and not investing in alliances which have helped us avoid big wars since World War 2,” wrote Gates. “Climate change is a real test of how we can work together globally since it is a complex problem where major changes need to be done well in advance of the big harms.”
Gates also said he’s surprised there hasn’t been more focus on innovations “across all the sources [of climate change] including agriculture and industrial materials like steel and cement,” because only using renewable energy “won’t stop the temperature from continuing to rise.”
Redditors also asked if there’s something Gates thinks is “incredibly important” but hasn’t grabbed much attention. Gates said bipartisan consensus on how to lower health care costs is a “critical issue” that people aren’t paying enough attention to.
“It does require looking at the numbers and studying what other countries do well,” he wrote.
Gates also answered more random questions like what is his favorite prime number (answer: 2) and whether he thinks he’ll be able to jump over a chair 20 years from now. You can read more here.