How Much Does Bill Gates Pay In Taxes?

Bill Gates exists on a level of wealth that makes most other billionaires pale in comparison. As a man who has held the title of the world's richest person for most of the last 25 years, he has more than enough resources to live life as he pleases. Some of his purchases are exactly what you'd expect, and probably would make yourself in his position — for instance, his unbelievable "Xanadu 2.0" high-tech compound on Lake Washington has its own trampoline room. However, much of his money and efforts has gone to noble causes. Bill and Melinda Gates are among the most philantropic people in America, ranking only behind Warren Buffett on the Forbes list of America's Top 50 Givers. In fact, Gates even left Microsoft behind in 2020, in order to focus on the philantropic activities of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Still, enviable as Gates' charitable activities are, we can't help but be curious about how much of his fortune has gone to plain, old-fashioned taxes. Just how much does Bill Gates pay in taxes, anyway?

Being one of the world's richest people, Bill Gates is a "Bill-ionaire" many, many times over. As such, he has paid plenty of taxes over the years. While you would probably need an army of accountants and/or top level IRS clearance to find out the exact amount, we do have a ballpark figure, courtesy of the Microsoft man himself. As Mark DeCambre of MarketWatch told us on January 25, 2020, Gates says that he has paid around $10BN in taxes over the years. He revealed the number as a response to then-Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's views on taxation of the super-wealthy. Gates then went on to say that he wouldn't have minded paying double that amount, though he did express concern that Warren's proposed wealth tax might be closer to $100BN in his particular case. (To be fair, Warren said it wouldn't be that much.)