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Bill Gates Criticizes Warren’s Wealth Tax Plan: Campaign Update

Gates questioned whether Warren’s 6% tax on assets of the wealthy would prove counterproductive.

Bill Gates Criticizes Warren’s Wealth Tax Plan: Campaign Update
Bill Gates, billionaire and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pauses during a panel session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. (Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Wednesday became the latest billionaire to criticize Elizabeth Warren for her signature wealth tax.

In an appearance at the New York Times DealBook Conference, Gates said he’s paid $10 billion in taxes and wouldn’t have minded paying twice that, but joked that, “When you say I should pay $100 billion then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over.”

Bill Gates Criticizes Warren’s Wealth Tax Plan: Campaign Update

Gates supports higher estate taxes and “super progressive tax systems,” but questioned whether Warren’s 6% tax on assets of the wealthy would prove counterproductive. “I do think if you tax too much, you do risk the capital formation’’ and innovation, as well as imperiling the U.S. “as the desirable place to do innovative companies,” he said.

He said he hasn’t spoken to Warren about her tax plans. “I’m not sure how open-minded she is,” he said, or that she’d want to talk to “somebody who has large amounts of money.” Warren’s tax would apply to households worth $50 million or more and would pay for a bevy of progressive proposals including her $21 trillion Medicare For All plan.

Two other billionaires, JP Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and investor Leon Cooperman, have criticized Warren’s wealth tax. She responded to both via Twitter, saying they should be willing to pay more in taxes to help others achieve the American Dream.

Klobuchar Qualifies for December Debate (4:48 p.m.)

Amy Klobuchar is the sixth candidate to qualify for the Democratic debate in Los Angeles in December.

Bill Gates Criticizes Warren’s Wealth Tax Plan: Campaign Update

Klobuchar announced Wednesday she qualified with 4% in the Quinnipiac University poll of Iowa released Tuesday. Participants need to meet a threshold of 4% in at least four Democratic National Committee-approved national or early state polls, or 6% in two early state polls, and 200,000 unique donors. She joins Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris who have all also qualified for the sixth debate on Dec. 19.

Ten candidates have qualified for the fifth debate, on Nov. 20 in Atlanta, Georgia: Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker and Tom Steyer. -- Emma Kinery

Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders, Biden in Iowa Tie (3:30 p.m.)

Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are statistically tied in Iowa, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

Warren leads with 20% support among likely Democratic caucus-goers, trailed by Buttigieg at 19%, Sanders at 17% and Biden with 15%. All fall within the poll’s margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

“It’s a race that is up for grabs,” wrote Mary Snow, a polling analyst for Quinnipiac University. “Half of likely Democratic caucus-goers who support a candidate say they may change their minds before Feb. 3.”

The poll of 698 Iowa likely Democratic caucus-goers was conducted from Oct. 30 through Nov. 5. -- Emma Kinery

Pressley Backs Warren, Splitting With ‘Squad’ (1:20 p.m.)

Representative Ayanna Pressley endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president, splitting with a group of progressive first-term congresswomen who backed Bernie Sanders last month.

“I’m proud to call her my senator. I can’t wait to call her our president,” Pressley, who like Warren represents Massachusetts in Congress, said in a video endorsement .

Pressley is one of the first major endorsements Warren has received from Democratic officials. Representative Katie Porter, another first-term lawmaker, endorsed Warren last week over her state’s senator Kamala Harris.

Bill Gates Criticizes Warren’s Wealth Tax Plan: Campaign Update

“You’ve all heard of the senator’s plans but here’s the thing: The plans are about power,” Pressley said in the video. “Who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it. For Elizabeth and me, power belongs in the hands of the people.”

Pressley belongs to a group of four progressive congresswomen known as “the Squad.” The other three members, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, endorsed Sanders after the fourth Democratic primary debate and have all held rallies for him since. Warren has pulled well ahead of Sanders in polls as they compete for the progressive bloc of the Democratic electorate. -- Emma Kinery

Booker Sets Plan to Revitalize Smaller Cities (12:38 p.m.)

Cory Booker wants to create a national competition for small and midsized cities to apply for at least 50 grants to fund economic growth and development.

“No one should have to leave their home to find economic opportunity in America,” the New Jersey senator and Democratic presidential candidate said in a release from the campaign.

The City 2030 Project would allocate $25 billion over the next decade to municipalities of fewer than 600,000 people. Funds can go toward investment in infrastructure, education, economic development programs and cultural institutions. The proposal also calls for an additional $25 billion over 10 years for the formation of a Community Justice Fund that would provide micro-grants to historically black and brown communities.

The $50 billion cost would come from uncollected taxes, which the campaign says accounted for $55 billion of lost revenue in 2018. -- Emma Kinery

Andrew Yang Spends $400,000 in First Ad Buy (11:49 a.m.)

Andrew Yang made his first buy of broadcast air time, reserving $403,810 in four Iowa markets.

The entrepreneur and long-shot presidential candidate will begin airing ads on Thursday and run them for a week, according to Advertising Analytics, which tracks political commercials. More than half of the money will be spent in the Des Moines market.

Yang raised $9.9 million in the third quarter, Federal Election Commission records show, with much of that total coming online. That was more than established politicians like Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker took in, but was still far behind Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. His campaign hired more staff after announcing the total.

Until the television buy, Yang’s paid media operation had been limited to digital platforms. He spent an estimated $1.6 million on Facebook and Google ads this year, according to Bully Pulpit Interactive’s 2020 Campaign Tracker. -- Bill Allison

Gabbard Has Reaffirmed No Third-Party Bid (11:12 a.m.)

Tulsi Gabbard has reassured the Democratic National Committee that she won’t mount a third-party campaign if she is denied the party’s nomination, Chairman Tom Perez said Wednesday.

“She’s told us and she’s told the American people: I am not running as a third party candidate,” Perez told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “We’ve spoken to every campaign last week regarding the pledge, and every campaign took that pledge, and took it with enthusiasm.”

That means Gabbard reissued her pledge after Hillary Clinton suggested that the under-card candidate was being groomed by Republicans for a third-party run. Clinton was channeling the sentiments of numerous Democrats who are skeptical of Gabbard’s intentions, and Gabbard depicted the comment to followers as evidence of a conspiracy to stop her.

Gabbard is polling among Democrats at 1.7%, according to the RealClearPolitics average of national surveys. -- Sahil Kapur

COMING UP

President Donald Trump plans a rally Wednesday in Monroe, Louisiana, where Governor John Bel Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, is facing Republican challenger Eddie Rispone, who describes himself as a conservative businessman, in a Nov. 16 runoff vote.

The major Democratic candidates -- including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg -- will appear Nov. 17 at the Nevada Democratic Party’s First in the West dinner, a major event that in 2015 drew thousands to hear from the Democratic presidential hopefuls.

--With assistance from Sahil Kapur, Bill Allison and Emma Kinery.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Bill Faries

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