From the San Jose Mercury News. I piped off the following letter to them:

I was less than impressed by William Gates Sr's support of an estate tax in your Business section article of Feb. 4. Of course, it's easy for him to talk. It's worth pointing out that unless his son Bill Gates gets hit by a bus, Gates Sr. will not miss any meals due to estate taxes for the rest of his natural life. I would be a lot more impressed by such a book written by any children of Bill Gates.



"The rich should give back to society because they could not have been successful without it," Gates Sr. says. "Ask how well they would have done if they had been born in Nigeria."

This seems to be based on the assumption that what makes it possible for (as an example) someone from Nigeria to come to America and become a millionaire, is the taxes paid to the Federal government. On the contrary, the success of private endeavors in America is due precisley to the minimal interference (compared to other nations) that our government puts in the way of entrepreneurs. The freedom FROM government is the main feature of our society that makes creating new wealth possible. As an entrepreneur myself, I can testify that one succeeds largely in spite of the Federal government, not because of it.

If Gates Sr. was correct in his thinking, the nations with the highest tax rates would have the largest number of millionaires and the greatest prosperity.

Tom Brosz



If I might add a note: any socialist millionaire who wants to leave his entire estate to the Federal government in his will is perfectly free to do so. Just tell him to keep his goddam hands off my wallet.