Mr Gates, I think you are on to something!
The suggestion is that a consumption tax rather than an income tax is a more equitable way of taxing. I don't like a lot of things that Bill Gates has talked about, but this one, let's look closer.
We do have a serious problem with equality. No, I am not talking about the nonexistent inequality between men and women in the modern world. That's just BS!
I am talking about the inequality between the hard working, single mother waitress and the rich SOB on STEEMIT making $2000 a post...lol. There is a huge gap in access to resources, education, medicine, etc. I am talking about that kind of equality. (However much STEEMIT and other platforms like it may change access to better pay.)
We also have a huge problem with planned obsolescence! I think a consumption tax would help solve both problems. You see, right now we buy cheap, then throw it away so we can stand in line for the newest model. The draw on resources is massive.
Let's take a TV for example. A TV is an accumulation of many, many resources, from the oil required to make the plastic, as well as gold, silver and copper. We haven't even started on the hundreds of hours spent making all the circuit boards and other tiny pieces. How about the shipping? Most TV's are built in a foreign country and shipped to us, then there are the salesmen, not to mention the fact that everyone along the way needs to make a profit. Yet, somehow we can buy a TV for a measly $500. The actual cost is in the thousands!
If we were to pay the true cost, plus a consumption tax of about 50%, it would cost $3000- $30,000 for a TV. (Depending on the TV) Now, that sounds like a lot of money, but it would mean that we would have to save and plan for these things. These things would have a much greater value to us. We would not be so quick to just throw it away and get a new one.
It would also force us to demand quality! We would no longer accept that that TV is going to blow up in 2-3 years and you have to buy a new one. We would demand that our purchases were of quality. We would demand that that TV last the rest of out lives! That phone would last 30 years and if it did break down, we would insist on interchangeable parts so that nothing becomes obsolete.
I think if all of these new Technologies, and Blockchains and things of the like are going to change the world, maybe we should consider these kinds of changes too?!?
Another perspective is how the Governments of the world are trying to figure out how to tax digital incomes!
They can't! They can't even prove that you have a digital income. That does not stop them from trying to pass laws that allow them to seize 100% of your assets if they even suspect you have a BTC you did not declare. So, they are willing to charge us criminally for suspicion of owning Cryptos, while at the same time never being able to prove that you own one.
A consumption tax, instead of an income tax would square it up!
Anyway, enjoy the interview.