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Bill Gates, Time Magazine "Person of the Year"
klubar writes "Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, were named Time Magazine "Persons of the Year". He was joined in this honor with Irish rocker Bono-all being named for being "Good Samaritans" who made a difference."
The point is that they pick people who have made a big difference in the world, which is how billy g slipped in there.
The link doesn't actually say how much of that came from Bill himself. Nor how much of a tax break he got for whatever he did contribute.
Gates fund the foundation himself. Or, I should say, Bill and Melinda fund the foundation themselves.
Tax break? You're kidding me, right? Even if he's in the 35% tax bracket, he's still giving away far more money than he gets from a tax deduction. Besides, you can't get back more than you owe in taxes - I don't think that even Bill Gates can ring up a $28 billion tax bill.
Incidentally, one of the positions that Gates has taken on our "progressive" income tax is that the rich should pay more than the poor in taxes. So has his father (who's a long way from the poorhouse himself).
You know, you can find all this out through Google...
-h-